| Abstract | The need to reduce energy use as part of a strategy to alleviate environmental stresses is widely accepted. Buildings are big end-users of energy; buildings account for 20-40% of the energy demands in developed nations, and the rate of new building construction in developing nations is accelerating. To reduce the impact that buildings have on the environment, the need for them to use as little energy as possible while still providing a satisfactory indoor environment is critical. The green building movement may be an effective catalyst for this, and various green building rating schemes are now in the marketplace worldwide. Certified 'green' commercial buildings exhibit higher real-estate values, presumably reflecting expectations for reduced operating costs, and improved organizational productivity through better indoor environments for employees. However, the higher market value cannot be maintained in the long run if these buildings do not deliver their expected benefits. The early generations of 'green' certified commercial buildings have now been occupied for several years, and it is time to explore whether these 'green' buildings are living up to expectations in objective terms. This paper reviews several of the post occupancy evaluations (POEs) that have been performed. A limited number of POEs are available in the public domain, making it difficult to draw solid conclusions. However, early trends suggest that green buildings on average seem to be delivering reduced energy use, however a large spread in performance is often observed meaning that individual buildings do not always perform as expected. Occupant satisfaction with some aspects of the indoor environment appears to have improved compared to conventional buildings, but there are areas where expected improvement trends are not realized. This paper provides some possible explanations for the observed performance, and describes a new, Canadian-led, research project that aims to explore these issues further. |
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