PROMOTION OF SUSTAINABLE BUILDINGS BASED ON THE PARADIGM OF ECO-EFFICIENCY

The necessity of promoting sustainable buildings is discussed in this paper from the viewpoint of theassessment of building environment performance. As the building sector generates hugeenvironmental loads, it is urgent to improve energy and resource efficiency in buildings. The concept ofEco-efficiency is introduced as a tool for evaluating the environmental efficiency of buildings. CASBEE,the assessment / rating tool developed in Japan for promoting sustainable buildings is presented.CASBEE, which is based on the concept of Eco-efficiency, is now widely used in the societies ofgovernment, industry and academia of Japan, to assess the building performance from the viewpoint ofbuilding sustainability. Actual assessment results by local governments using CASBEE aredemonstrated as a leading example.