Towards key performance indicators for 'environmental building'

Our society tries to balance it's activities with environmental problems like global warming, aiming for 'sustainability'. Over the years this term 'sustainability' has grown to incorporate environmental, economic and social issues. In the construction industry many different actors like researchers, policy makers and architects are dealing with the complex problem of realising a sustainable built environment. However, the all-embracing broadness of the term sustainability makes it hard to measure building performance in this field, and mingles value systems with objective analysis work. It renders communication across the board of building professionals difficult and risks to slow down research and technology development in this vital field. In order for the construction industry to move forward, a fundamental review of what exactly it is that comprises 'sustainable building' must be undertaken. This paper describes ongoing research efforts focussing on the one sustainability aspect of 'environmental friendliness'. These efforts aim to bring together a solid body of knowledge on all aspects that make up environmental building, on ways to measure building performance for each of these aspects by means of calculation and/or measurement, and on ways to enhance communication about these aspects throughout the building life cycle.