State of The Art of Green Building Standards and Certification System Development in Thailand

Energy saving and the sustainable environment are becoming one of the most important aspects to Thailand, especially in the building and construction industry. Green Building Index for energy and environment concern has been developed by Thai government since 1992 that aim to solve the environment resource crisis, depended upon regulations and evaluation guidelines of local climate. Nowadays, the number of green buildings is rapidly increased according to the concerns of energy consumption and environmental impact. LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), Green Mark, and TREES (Thai's Rating of Energy and Environmental Sustainability) are the most widely used systems for green building certification in Thailand. There are 113 buildings from 201 assessed projects were certified by LEED and three buildings were certified by Green Mark. TREES which developed by Thai Green Building Institute has certified only 12 buildings from the total of 74 registered projects. This paper was focused on the situation and the development of green building standards and certification systems in Thailand, including LEED, Green Mark, and TREES. The comparisons of assessment methods and components among these 3 systems were discussed. Additionally, the recommendation on the practice of green building development in Thailand was also provided. This paper found that the number of green building was increasing especially commercial building. Moreover, those are influenced by economic expanding.