Development of sustainability assessment tool for existing buildings

Abstract

Under climate change impacts, the world is becoming one village. This motivated the application of sustainability rating systems of buildings away from their origins which is hindered by the different attributes and weights. Hence, this study developed a global sustainability rating tool for existing buildings, considering the regional variations through proposing sustainability assessment attributes and determining their weights utilizing fuzzy logic. Data was collected through Canadian and Egyptian experts’ questionnaires to stand for the impact of the regional variations on the weight values. Fuzzy topsis was implemented to overcome the uncertainties inherent when considering opinions of individuals. Consequently, the assessment model and the ranking scheme were developed. In addition to questionnaires, the model was implemented using BIM modeling and energy simulations for two cases in the Canadian and Egyptian environments. The results showed that weights vary from country to another, however, energy criteria deemed to have nearly the same weight in both countries. Also, the results showed the ability of the proposed model to address the regional variations through the developed multi-level weight model. The model was validated by applying sensitivity analysis. The developed sustainability assessment model is a step towards a globally working sustainability rating tool that can address regional variations.