A review of data collection and analysis requirements for certified green buildings

Abstract

While the research community widely recognizes the importance of post-occupancy measurement of buildings to verify performance, requirements of green building certification schemes are highly varied. To assess the effectiveness of building certification schemes during the operation and maintenance stage of certified buildings, this paper critically reviews recent case studies that report on post-certification performance. The review of relevant case studies from the literature reveals some important findings in relation to the performance gap of certified buildings. Subsequently, major operation and maintenance-related building certification schemes are surveyed to reveal the underlying reasons behind this performance gap. Post-certification actions that require postoccupancy data collection and analysis are identified through this survey and compared to highlight their strengths and shortcomings and pinpoint the major discrepancies in data infrastructure and archiving practices that hinder certified buildings in performing according to their design intent. Lastly, suggestions are extracted which may shed light on the re-certification pathways.