Abstract

With spreading of the very notion of sustainable development in the construction industry, the rating system schemes to assess the energy efficiency is becoming more vital than ever. Today, a great deal of effort is placed all over the world in achieving and implementing sustainable strategies and development in the construction industry. The aim of this paper is to provide an objective comparison of the sustainability performance assessment of three tools that are used and applied in sustainability assessment in three different countries. This paper critically examines the sustainability assessment for new buildings within three building environment assessment schemes within the BREEAM-UK, LEED-USA and GRIHA-India. Bose (2011) noted that there are many aspects, which are not been addressed to respond to the Indian context within the used assessment tools in India. The paper reviews this tools aiming at identifying those aspects and putting forward a strategy to address them in the Indian rating tool through a comparative study of this system with two of the most leading systems of the world namely the LEED and BREEAM. The paper through a cross case analysis identifies the nature and contribution, in addition to the shortcomings in the existing sustainable parameters of the three tools identified. This is followed by an evaluation of the three systems based on the similarities of their assessment criteria, credits, benchmarks and energy performance system. Scope of further development of the GRIHA assessment tool is identified particularly the need for expansion of the 3 broader categories it uses for assessment. The paper proposes that in developing countries like India there should be a scope within the sustainability assessment tools to capture the health and well being of the society.