Benchmarking energy use assessment of HK-BEAM, BREEAM and LEED

The Hong Kong Building Environmental Assessment Method (HK-BEAM), Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) and LEED were formally launched in the 1990's. How well the certified and rated buildings compare with each other of an interest to building designers and policy makers. This paper describes how the baseline buildings, performance criteria and the credit scales of the three schemes compare with each other. By statistical analysis of the energy assessment results of 60 HK-BEAM certified buildings and the available data for BREEAM and LEED, it seeks to ascertained of buildings scoring excellent energy performance under different schemes belong to the top 5% in the market. Through this exercise, a systematic approach to benchmark the energy assessments across schemes has been established. With people nowadays paying greater attention to the environmental issues and the rapid development of the environmental schemes in various parts of the world, this study forms a good basis for future benchmarking of energy assessment schemes across nations.