Defining Green Building criteria

The lab is examining the applicability of different product sustainability indicators, among them green building solutions in Israel. The green building indicator  set focuses on two out of the three dimensions in sustainability: environment and economics. It analyses the effect different actors (manufacturers, consumers, and governmnet), and their interaction, have on product sustainability.  The indicators' goal is to express relatively simply the measure of a product effect on the environment, and thus benefit manufacturers, consumers, and government in their decision making process.  The environmental indicators are based on life cycle thinking, and they examine three main phases in the product life cycle: manufacturing, use, and end of life, referring specifically to products in the green building industry. The indicators examine the level of sustainability at each phase in its own,  and how it lays the foundation for the following phases so they can improve their sustainability as well. On the economic side the indicators were built based on an environmental economy perspective, and it examines whether the opportunities to reach a double dividend were exhausted, so as to gain both on the economic and the environmental frots simultaneously. The ability to reach a double dividend are often embedded in different management categories, and the indicators looks at how much companies make use of such opportunities. Based on these principles, we developed a criteria table and scoring mechanism as a practical, applicable tool. It is comprehensive yet fairly simple, comparable and effective in estimating  a green building product level of sustainability. The table looks at all the relevant angles listed above, and translates them to direct questions that can be answered using data from different sources. Most of the criteria detailed in the table reciew elements in the product under examination, and some of them refer to wider aspects, such as the manufacturer's economic-environmental practices, consumer behavior,  and recycling companies activity at the product's end of life. The indicators' applicability is validated using three case studies of products from the green building market in Israel.