Portuguese sustainable construction assessment tools benchmarked with BREEAM and LEED: An energy analysis

•Comparison of criteria weights between LiderA, SB ToolPT, BREEAM and LEED.•General comparison of criteria of these sustainable construction assessment tools.•Numerical comparison of these four tools using a real Portuguese case study.•Discussion of Energy criteria contribution for the final class in these tools.

This paper compares the criteria weighting process of four sustainable construction assessment tools: LiderA, SB ToolPT, Code for Sustainable Homes, and LEED for Homes 2012. The actual weights are first discussed in conceptual and numerical terms by benchmarking those in the four tools that have similar criteria. These four tools are then used to assess the sustainability level of a Portuguese residential project, the Palácio dos Condes de Murça (Counts of Murça Palace), to discuss the real influence of the weighting process on the final classification, in a real situation. Based on these two approaches, the work debates how the weighting process can contribute to the quest for passive net zero-energy buildings (NZEBs). In other words, this paper intends to ascertain whether the energy criteria's weighting is singling out bioclimatic principles as a priority for NZEBs. In conclusion, this work showed that the four different weighting sets are robust and generally similar. In fact, the case study analysis demonstrated that the final class is equivalent in the various tools. However, as far as energy is concerned, it is not clear whether the tools are pointing to passive design as the primary answer to achieve efficient NZEBs.