| dc.description.abstract | Recently, the focus on green buildings has come to the forefront in many countries.
However, in the context of Sri Lanka, the number of green-certified buildings seems
to be still at a minimal level and the focus is solely on the energy efficiency features.
Although green buildings are meant to be sustainable, the level of incorporation of
sustainable features and their contribution to sustainability is questionable.
Therefore, the current study aims to examine the extent of incorporation of
sustainable features in green-certified buildings in Sri Lanka. A review was
conducted into the USGBC database and the profile of green-certified buildings in
Sri Lanka was examined to identify the extent of green certification in Sri Lankan
buildings and their level of achieving sustainable features. The reasons for the level
of achievement of those sustainable features were then identified by interviewing
professionals who engaged in green buildings. Accordingly, the selected buildings
have over 80% of achievement in terms of water efficiency and sustainable sites,
while other design features such as energy and atmosphere, indoor environmental
quality, and material and resources are achieved below 50%. Further, energy and
atmosphere, and indoor environmental quality features require alternatives with
higher initial cost, early commitment, and an integrated design process. Most of the
time, energy and indoor environmental quality features seem easy to achieve, but
often turn out to be far more complicated, and thus less feasible, than anticipated.
Knowing sustainabe achievement of features would enable green building investors
to select the most appropriate features for a given construction. | en_US |
