Abstract
Sustainably designed buildings, such as those built under LEED, CAL-Green, BREAM, Energy Star and Green Star, purport to reduce scarce resource consumption and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. This research addresses whether such sustainably designed buildings produce reductions in greenhouse gas emissions compared to similar but non-sustainably designed projects in the multi-family area of built environments. I compare two datasets to determine the energy consumption levels between sustainably designed (LEED-certified and CAL-Green) multi-family projects and similar developments which are not designed to be sustainable to determine the effectiveness of current sustainability design strategies in creating reductions of the overall production of greenhouse gases. These findings provide empirical evidence of the effectiveness of sustainability design strategies currently in use in the multi-family housing industry. The results of this research are that CAL-Green buildings produce statistically significant reductions in greenhouse gases compared to buildings that were built prior to the imposition of CAL-Green design standards, while LEED certified buildings generally do not. Neither the LEED buildings nor the CAL-Green buildings produce the level of reduction in greenhouse gas emissions that were expected. Smaller buildings consume considerably more energy and emit more greenhouse gases per square foot than larger buildings. Buildings that produce lower levels of greenhouse gases tend to use a greater percentage of electricity than natural gas compared to inferior performing buildings. Limitations and future research directions are discussed.
Library of Congress Subject Headings
Sustainable buildings—Evaluation; Apartment houses--Energy conservation; Greenhouse gas mitigation—Evaluation; Sustainable architecture—Standards
Date of Award
2022
School Affiliation
Graziadio Business School
Department/Program
Business
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctorate
Faculty Advisor
Abraham Park
Recommended Citation
Cusumano, Michael, "To LEED or not to LEED; a data comparison of energy consumption and greenhouse gas production in multi-family housing operations" (2022). Theses and Dissertations. 1681.
https://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/etd/1681