A BIBLIOGRAPHIC ANALYSIS OF WATER EFFICIENCY AMONG GREEN BUILDING RATING TOOLS: LEED AND ESGB

The green building rating tools can be used to evaluate, and promote the building industry 's sustainability, but previous relevant research on the comparative analysis were mainly conducted at the general, category or criteria level, very little research has been done from the indicator level via statistical analysis. Especially, research on the comparison of water efficiency is rare. To this end, this paper will focus on a thorough and comprehensive comparison of the water efficiency between Leadership in Environmental and Energy Design (LEED, US) and Evaluation Standard of Green Building (ESGB, China). The comparison of the specific terms includes six aspects, i.e. macroscopic, building water use, landscape water use, heat and cooling system use water, nontraditional water source utilization and water monitoring system. The similarities and differences of water efficiency standards are described. In the end, the development direction of domestic water efficiency technology is pointed out and meanwhile, a more reasonable water efficiency standard in China is suggested. The LEED is also suggested to use the detailed items of the non-traditional water source utilization from ESGB for reference. The research results would serve as a useful reference for both industry practitioners and academics that are interested in green buildings.