COMPARISON OF LEED'S ENERGY AND ATMOSPHERE STANDARDS FOR SOME DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

All efforts for handling resources, including extraction, processing, transportation, and manufacturing require energy. Thus, energy is a very valuable, albeit an indirect resource in the development of any country. Dependence on energy has a direct impact on the environment as well as the cost of products. Sustainability efforts focus on minimizing environmental impacts within a reasonable cost. Green building rating and certification systems around the world handle energy-related issues by considering the regional priorities of the country where they were first introduced. Certification systems rely on standards that are in effect locally. Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) was first introduced in the U.S. and is currently the most widely preferred green building certification system around the world. The "energy and atmosphere" category in LEED v4 NC amounts to 33 points, which corresponds to approximately 26.2% of the total points that a building can receive. Because LEED was first introduced in the U.S., it heavily relies on U.S. standards such as ANSI/ASHRAE/IESNA, which limit its applicability in countries other than the U.S. In this study, the standards that are referred to in the energy-related categories of the Pearl Building Rating System (ESTIDAMA) of Abu Dhabi and LEED-India are analyzed and compared to the standards referred to by LEED v4 NC. It is hoped that the outcome of the study will provide valuable knowhow for professionals in other countries where efforts are underway to improve existing standards and/or to introduce new ones.