Environmental efficiency in residential buildings – A simplified communication approach

For all actors involved with planning, developing and managing buildings, the environmental impact relating to energy use and the quality of the indoor environment are both aspects of major concern. It is crucial that a reduction in the environmental impact of a building is not achieved through compromising the indoor environment. This paper presents a method to assess user satisfaction related to the indoor environment and the environmental impact related to the energy use of the building, i.e. the environmental efficiency of the building. This environmental efficiency comprises two indices that are calculated separately but displayed in the same diagram to facilitate communication of complex information. This approach forms part of the Swedish life cycle based environmental assessment tool for buildings, EcoEffect. The present paper presents and exemplifies the environmental efficiency of buildings using data from 26 Swedish multi-family residential buildings and proposes a number of reference values. The concept can be used as an overarching objective for environmental management of a property firm's building stock or for evaluating targets set in the planning process for a new building. It can also be used for environmental rating of buildings, which would probably increase the communication value further. The aggregated indices are rough but proportionately straightforward to calculate and easily communicated. In addition, they address the environmental impacts of buildings in a much more comprehensive way than the current practice.