Can LEED lose ground in Brazil?

The Green Building Council (GBC) Brazil is one of 21 members of the World GreenBuilding Council.  GBC selected the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Rating System to provide certification of green buildings in the country.

 GBC Brazil is currently working on the interpretation and adaptation of this tool for the local market. Meanwhile the projects in Brazil have to follow the same parameters of the US LEED, what can be seen as a disadvantage to this tool. Having a scorecard, composed of credits that are incoherent and inconsistent with the local reality can lead to a problem to the LEED Brazil system. Despite that, since its inception in 2007, LEED is the most aimed tool by the Brazilian green construction industry. Maybe the USGBC brand exerts influence in this selection decision, but as other certification systems show up in the market this supremacy could be threatened.

In 2008, Vanzolini Foundation, a Brazilian non-profit private institute founded by the University of Sao Paulo, created a sustainable construction certification process named AQUA. The certification is based on the HQE seal (Haute Qualité Environnementale), a standard for green building in France. LEED was developed based on experience of American standards and laws, while the French HQE model, which is a predecessor to the LEED, takes into account the performance, i.e., does not require pre-established solutions.

Differently from LEED, in which the Brazilian construction companies have to report to USGBC all material to get the certification, AQUA seal is obtained in Brazil and auditing is done on the work site.  All construction phases - planning, design and implementation – are monitored. There are three rating levels in AQUA, that are Good, Superior, Excellent. AQUA includes laws, regulations, performance parameters and characteristics of construction in Brazil. Another advantage of AQUA is that the certificate is issued in just 30 days, much faster than LEED, which takes approximately 6 months.

LEED evaluates projects by points. So, you must make a certain number of points to be certified. This means that the developer can choose the points he wants to do, regardless of the context of the project. The fact is that when a developer is able to choose the points, the final project outcome may not be efficient and consistent and yet achieve a certification. In AQUA rating system, the developer must meet all criteria. AQUA seeks a number of factors such as the context of the development, what is the project about, how it will work. Furthermore, AQUA analyzes the location of the land, legal and economic issues related to the project. 

Numbers show that LEED is ahead of the game with more than 500 projects certified or in the process of certification while AQUA has around 70 projects in its account.

Since green building is still in its early stage in Brazil, we cannot see a clear definition about which certification process will lead in the future. Will a more broad overview of the project, like AQUA, be more acceptable in the construction industry or will LEED scorecard continue to have the preference of the majority?

Research to reduce solar energy cost

I'd like to share an article that I read today at the Alligator. It is about a research that a UF Engineering professor will participate to find a new technology to lower the cost of  solar energy.

Emerging Market - Brazil

Green building is significantly growing in Brazil, with 52 projects already certified and another 474 registered, with a total of 526 green projects, as stated in  USGBC Report of June 30, 2012. These numbers take Brazil to the fourth position in the world ranking of LEED high performance buildings, behind the United States, United Arab Emirates and China.

In the Environmental Building News (EBN) volume of January 2013, there are some studies of expectations of green certified buildings released by McGraw-Hill Construction (MHC). MHC Trends Report found that, around the world, "63% of firms have new green commercial construction planned by 2015, with 83% of firms in Brazil - a construction hotspot - reporting such plans".

It is true that there are going to have some important events in Brazil in the near future, such as the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games that are helping to push forward the local construction industry, but it is also true that the country has a lot of different opportunities to explore besides these events. It is also necessary to highlight the increase in the construction market maturity, willing to increase the share of green building in the construction market.

The local consumer market is weighing the benefits of getting a green home or office and now is demanding a green certified building. Construction companies are aware of this trend and are investing more in projects with a green certification, fulfilling at the same time the green standards and the demand of the population. Companies want to maintain a good reputation in the market, thus having more green projects in their portfolios can show respect with other people and the whole environment. Instead of being an extra cost, high performance buildings proved to be a better investment than conventional buildings when you analyze the life cycle cost and the benefits to the occupants, that explains the rising interest in going green. 

Brazil’s Green Building Council informs that LEED projects have an increase of 10% to 20% on the sale price and a reduction in 9% on average in operation cost of the project compared to conventional buildings. It also states that the cost to have a green building is around 1-7% higher than a conventional building. 

The interest in green building that happens in Brazil follows the same pattern as it is seen around the world, indicating that it is a new standard of construction. Designing efficient buildings is the core of this standard, saving the business and the environment.