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?
I think it is a good point that you have mentioned, about how LEED is flawed to some extent. It is true that with LEED the projects can skip some of the vital sustainable practices and still achieve the certification. However, AQUA is broader in aspect and covers a lot more factors than LEED such as the economic and legal factors. Also, developed on the lines of HQE, it has an advantage in number of environmental sub issues and is further ahead in consideration of urban development operations.
ReplyDeleteI think the Brazil Green Building Council should promote and encourage the developers to adopt of AQUA and have more projects certified under AQUA keeping in mind some of the benefits of the system such as the duration for certification wherein AQUA takes just about 30 days for certification as against LEED that takes over 6 months.