Evaluating the Efficacy of BREEAM Code for Sustainable Homes (CSH): A Cross-Sectional Study

Christopher O'Malley, Poorang Piroozfar, Eric R.P. Farr, Jonathan Gates

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

There is now a substantial body of evidence suggesting that climate change is occurring as a result of human activities. Bottom-up approaches have been encouraged to enhance sustainability agenda. Assessment methods have been developed to ensure an incessant decrease in carbon footprint of buildings. It has long been discussed that many of such assessment methods systematically lack dedicated criteria to assess building beyond its physical boundaries. This paper focuses on Code for Sustainable Homes (CSH) and attempts to map it against LEED and CASBEE with an aim to encourage assessment beyond physical boundaries of a building and into its immediate context and surrounding environment. A critical review of the latest literature was conducted to establish the general concepts and principles behind the CSH's method of assessment in comparison with CASBEE and LEED. Following this, differences, positive and negative aspects of the three assessment method were established through in-depth review of their official documents and by cross-referencing the different components, methodologies and assessment criteria of each. This led to a comparative analysis using a critical evaluation of findings of The Building Environmental Quality Evaluation for Sustainability through Time (BEQUEST), The European Sustainable Development Strategy (ESDS) and The Freiburg Charter (FC). Expert interviews were conducted to consolidate the findings of this study. This added technical in-depth expert opinions to the preliminary findings of this research and helped pave the way for providing practical suggestions for possible areas of improvement for the CSH.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)210-219
Number of pages10
JournalEnergy Procedia
Volume62
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jan 2014

Bibliographical note

© 2014 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/).

Keywords

  • Environmental Sustainability
  • Environmental Assessment Methods
  • BREEAM
  • CSH
  • LEED
  • CASBEE

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