| dc.description.abstract | : Recently, the focus on green buildings
has fore fronted in 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 achievement of 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 below 50% achievement. 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 sustainability achievement
of features would enable green building investors
to select the most appropriate features for a
given construction | en_US |
