An investigation of the water efficiency credits in international green building assessment systems and a roadmap for their implementations in Turkey

Abstract

Sustainable development is one of the major issues for our developing world. Building construction and operation constitute a vital element in sustainable development, having irreversible impacts on the environment regarding the consumption of raw materials, potable water use, energy use, atmospheric emissions and waste generation. Building environmental assessment methods have emerged in order to control and evaluate such environmental effects of buildings and assess the building performance across a broad range of environmental considerations. Water efficiency is a key subject in every green building assessment system and is gradually becoming more important than it was in the past. Regarded as the primary assessment systems, BREEAM and LEED measure water efficiency in their own ways. The approaches of both rating systems can be classified under three main categories which are the reduction of potable water use in sanitary applications and recycled water usage, the reduction of potable water usage on landscaping and water consumption monitoring and leakage control. In this thesis, the methods of BREEAM and LEED on water efficiency are deeply investigated and compared through these three main subjects with a thorough analysis of individual credits. Then, the applicability in Turkey is discussed indicating the implementations, Turkish standards and potential opportunities. This research aims not only to be a roadmap for the forthcoming projects intended to be certified under international green building assessment systems, but also to be a pioneer for the prospective studies that aim to analyze the environmental assessment systems.