Environmental assessment of residential buildings

Abstract

The City of Gothenburg has developed a Green Construction Program with the intention of increasing the environmental performance of residential buildings. The aim and purpose of this project is to provide a basis for the evaluation of this program by the development of relevant and measurable criteria. This was accomplished by an extensive study of literature in the field. Two levels of fulfillment with the program are specified, fulfillment and good performance. A balancing act between the two central guidelines of the theoretical framework, the lowest acceptable level of environmental performance and general applicability of the results, is being conducted throughout the analysis. The analytical strategy aims to illuminate the technological and behavioral limiting factors in reaching an environmentally satisfying level of performance, as well as the main actors influencing the requirement fulfillment. The results are presented in two levels of fulfillment; a fulfillment level indicating that the requirement has been met on a basic level, and one level of good performance indicating that the requirement has been fulfilled with margins and a higher performance level. This is an attempt to encourage proactive behavior. For most of the requirements, required performance levels are established in this thesis, nevertheless for some requirements further research is necessary. Furthermore this thesis reflects the status of technology and behavior as of today. The performance levels will need to be updated to reflect the progress in technology and behavior.