Sustainable building equipment : an excursus through main environmental performance rating systems. Part 1. Resource consumptions & environmental loadings.

Through the analysis of the main international environmental performance rating systems (BREEAM, LEED and GBTool) this work aims to show international design tendencies concerning sustainable building equipment requirements and to provide to designers and researchers a broad view of sustainable building equipment solutions. Hence a particular attention was paid to the assessment approach provided by these systems for each requirement, focussing on comparison of the building performance to a benchmark, compliance with qualitative indications or use of best technologies. Specifically this first part of the work focuses on the equipment requirements aiming to achieve less resource consumptions (minimization of energy and water use) and less environmental loadings (minimization of gases emissions due to energy consumptions, of the production of liquid wastes and of the impact on the site) during building construction, operation and management.