Research On The Regionally Adaptable Green Building Assessment Indicators Based On The China Evaluating Standard For Green Buildings

Since early 1990 s, green building(GB) assessment systems have been constantly developed in different countries and regions. After more than 20 years of theoretical study and practical application, it has formed a relatively complete concept model and systematic framework. Its applicable building types have been increased, and its influence and application areas has been expanded unceasingly. It has played a positive and effective role in promoting rapid development of GB around the world. Along with the popularization and widespread application of some main GB assessment systems(BREEAM, LEED, SBTool, etc.) in different countries and regions, their regional adaptability issues have gradually been revealed.In 2006, Chinese government released the China Evaluating Standard for Green Buildings(ESGB) on the foundation of existed GB assessment systems at that time. Because of the vast territory and numerous nationalities in China, the conditions of local nature, economy and culture are vary significantly. The general ESGB at national level is difficult to be fully adapted to the specific characteristics and requirements in different regions in China. Therefore, as well as other mainstream international GB assessment systems, the China ESGB also has to deal with issues relevant to regional adaptabilities.Up to now, Chinese academia has been carrying out research and discussion of the regional adaptability of the China ESGB at different levels. Based on the national standard, Guangdong province, Jiangsu province, Qinghai province, Shaanxi province, Shanghai, Beijing and other provinces and cities had proposed local standards(including trial version and discussion version) in succession. However, from the perspective of methodology, how to propose the regionally adaptable GB assessment indicators for specific regions based on the China ESGB is still a subject that needs further research.Under the above background, by taking GB assessment indicators as research object, this thesis carries out research on how to establish the regionally adaptable GB assessment indicators from the Chinese ESGB through literature review, logical analysis, questionnaire survey, interview survey, project investigation, generalization and summarization. In view of that the author had engaged in the research project of Design Standard for Green Building in Qinghai; at the same time, the Qinghai Provincial Housing and City-Rural Construction Department just planned to revise the existing Evaluating Standard for Green Building in Qinghai at the early stage of this research, so field investigations and case studies of this research were both carried out in the Qinghai province. It was hoped that the relevant research outcome of this research would not only provide general references for the establishment of regionally adaptable GB assessment indicators from the methodological perspective, but also provide specific reference for revision of the existing Qinghai ESGB.Content and path of the research are mainly as follows:Firstly, it summarized and analyzed the current research status in relevant fields around the world, and proposed research issue.Secondly, it reviewed the development of foreign green building assessment system, and analyzed the general situation of their regional adaptability.Thirdly, it reviewed the development of Chinese green building assessment systems, and taking Chinese national conditions into consideration, did a specific analysis of the regionalism of China ESGB, from the perspective of natural climate and resource condition, economic level and social culture.Fourthly, it took Qinghai province as the research region, analyzed and summarized regional characteristics in Qinghai by literature review and field investigation(including questionnaire survey, expert interview survey and case study); on this basis, it proposed amendment and supplement suggestions for relevant assessment indicators of existing Qinghai ESGB from the perspective of regional adaptability.Fifthly, it took a two-star GB in Qinghai province for case study. The general regional indicators of existing Qinghai ESGB and regionally adaptable indicators proposed in this thesis were used to evaluate the project respectively. Then, it summarized and proposed the specific influence and existing problems of the regionally adaptable indicators evaluating the GB case. On their basis, it further summarized general and regional issues existed in practical applications of relevant indicators of current ESGB, and put forward corresponding modification suggestions.Finally, it summarized the research achievements and put forward the reference path of establishing the regionally adaptable GB assessment indicators.The outcome of the thesis is listed as the following: 1).proposed 9 regional characteristics factors closely related to “establishing the regionally adaptable green building assessment indicators”; 2).proposed 6 categories and 43 regionally adaptable GB assessment indicators; 3).revised 49 specific regionally adaptable indicators based on Qinghai environmental characteristics, in which 32 were modified, 10 were supplemented and 7 were cut; 4).pointed out 11 problems and made 11 corresponding suggestions regarding “establishment of the regionally adaptable green building assessment indicators”; 5).recommended paths and methods for establishing regionally adaptable GB assessment indicators based on the China ESGB.It should be noted that, due to limitations of the duration of this research, as well as the academic background and personal research ability of the author, this research focused only on the architectural area, and was not expended to other professional areas, nor to the building type issues, which are also closely relevant to the topic of GB assessment. Comprehensive analysis of the complex relationship between regionally adaptable GB assessment indicators and a variety of factors in this thesis need to be further researched, the scope and depth of field investigation and case studies also need to be further expanded.Upon completion of this thesis, a new version of the national Evaluating Standard for Green Building in China is just about to be formally released. New versions of GB assessment systems at provincial and municipal levels must be revised or established accordingly It is expected that the outcome of this thesis can provide beneficial reference and assistants for the revision or establishment of new regionally adaptable GB assessment indicators in different regions in China(especially in the Qinghai province); at the same time, relevant researches in the future can be further expanded and deepened on the basis of the outcome of this thesis; so as to promote continuous improvement of GB assessment system at different regions in China.