MAC Curves VS Sustainability Tools​
Reducing Environmental Impacts in Civil Engineering
Sustainability Tools
The Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM)
​BREEAM was established in the UK, by BRE Global Limited in 1990, to be used as a voluntary rating tool for any new non domestic buildings or construction within the UK. Since then it has developed into the most widely used international environmental assessment method and has been used to assess thousands of buildings worldwide.
Credit points are awarded to the development based on certain criteria (Energy, Transport, Land Use and Ecology, Water, Waste, Materials, Pollution, Management) as well as for innovation. BREEAM has adopted a minimum score card to provide points for minimum standards that are met during planning and construction. Each of the above criteria has an environmental weighting as shown in table 2.4 below. Combining all the points and weightings, the building is then awarded with and overall BREEAM rating.
Comprehensive Assessment System for Built Environment Efficiency (CASBEE)
The most used sustainability tool in Japan is CASBEE. The assessment is focused on two aspects. The first considers the interior of the building and its impact on the surrounding environment. The second, broader, aspect focuses on social sustainability.
CASBEE was developed by the Japanese MLIT in conjunction with various professionals from industry, government and academia. The two environmental loads are assessed where building performance (Q) is the positive impact and environmental load (L) is the negative impact.
Eco-efficiency is defined as the quality of life over the environmental load. This is compared to the BEE which is defined as the quality of building over the buildings environmental load. A rating is calculated to give the building an overall CASBEE ranking.
Envest II
Envest 2 is a software tool developed by BRE Global Limited. It helps simplify the complex process of designing buildings with a low environmental impact. Life Cycle Assessment and whole life costing is the primary focus of Envest 2 and it is mostly applicable from the design stage onwards and therefore it’s not applicable during the pre-design phase.
Sustainable Project Appraisal Routine (SPeAR)
The tool consists of a framework which assesses the sustainability of projects, products and organisations. The framework is based on a set of core sectors and indicators for sustainability such as social, economic, natural resource and environmental issues. It also includes other indicators that are specific to the project to an individual extent.
SPeAR is able to cover all the sustainability issues together as a holistic and comprehensive assessment of environmental, social and economic performance.
Green Star
Green star was designed for voluntary use to assess environmental issues related to a building’s design.
The purpose of the tool is to assist in differentiating and marketing buildings with strong environmental credentials.
Green Star is similar to BREEAM as it assess a development based on the same criteria as BREEAM. However, it awards developments with stars instead on a point rating.
​
​
