Assessment of leed green building certification system during the construction process, models from Turkey

At the fourth assessment report about the climate change at the climate conference (UNFCCC- United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change), United Nations has estimated that earth?s climate will heat up between 1,8 and 4 degrees until 2100. Achim Steiner, Executive Director of United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), at his long-awaited report, it is stated that global warming has occured over ninety percent probability because of human activities (1).Global warming is a highly important problem the world is facing today and a very big threat to humanity. It is accepted that the major cause for global warming is human activities and productions. The cities built by mankind are the fields where these activities and productions are most extensive and effective. ?Urbanization?, which is the extension of the progress started for the sake of advancement of humanity has reached a high level which is unseen throughout history from Industrial Revolution till today, along with many factors like; population growth which is triggered by one another, employment necessity, gathering in one center, accessibility, sheltering and housing needs.After the socio-economic processes lived through by rapid urbanization, today it is an entirely accepted fact that the world has come to a limit of not supporting the current consumption load and the existing environmental degradation is caused by dense housing. Constructions contribute to the formation of environmental degradation for all the duration starting from getting the material of construction?s raw materials from the source till the end of the life of structure. The main reason of this is that the production of the harmfull emissions and other wastes and leaving them to the environment for all the duration of this process due to the usage of natural sources and energy.In the world various different kinds of disciplines for the last thirty years, by examining the damages exposed from the dangers indicated by global warming, it is observed that the solution seekings are inevitable. As a result a new ecological approach becomes widespread. Researches have done, steps taken and various attempts performed by this new approach. Within the frame of the all, a new concept is added to the literature; ?Sustainability?. From the point of the vulnerability done to the environment, in this context construction sector is put under the microscope especially beginning from the 1990?s. At the last twenty years, causing global warming, forming wastes and environmental pollution and consuming natural resources; in the sense of all and being the main problem that is lived through, construction sector has started seeking solutions. Within the scope of ecological approaches against the vulnerabilities and impacts it caused, this sector has started developing methods for building production which is environmentally-conscious, responsible and useful to human health. The concept of ?Sustainability? has integrated into the building production process within the frame of these solution seeking.In time, in building construction process, tariffed with different methods while ?Sustainable Building? practices have gained a certain advertising value at the market, how they are calculated became a question. Due to the lack of basic measures at building production against global effects and a standard definition of ?Sustainable Building?, assessment of produced sustainable buildings to which standards is an unclear concept.Be able to not generating comparisons and thereby not making an assessment, caused being wide of the mark of basic targets which consists preventing irreversible damages to the environment and reducing the production of the practices done.Forming certain measurement and evaluation standards are required to reduce the damage caused by construction sector for real sustainable building production. This provoked the sector to enhance a new assessment standard inside. ?Green Building Certification? programmes are developed to evaluate a sustainable building at developed countries in its entire lifetime, to assess the sustainable standards of the buildings that are included at building production process in integrity and to form a comparison between buildings.It is observed that these programmes are trying to form an evaluation template by associating method assessment which is enhanced for inadequate standards from the point of sustainable elements at construction sector plus some basic measures with certain international standards. The sustainable method approach of the Green Certificate Programmes, besides encouraging the usage of regenerable energy source for energy consumption, they evaluate various components like the transformation of all kinds of consumption material within the scope of certain standards. Advanced certificate programmes, in integrity evaluating the criterions which define a sustainable building within the frame of basic standards they have taken, targeted the applied building to be more ecologic and economic entire lifetime.Today, the certificate programmes still in advance, have started to be used widely in all building production applications all around the world. These programmes cause transformations nearly at the legislations of some of the countries about the topics of design, construction and project management. In all around the world it is observed that the Green Building Certification programmes play a significant role at the transformation of reducing the global effects of construction sector.These certification systems have come into effect in Turkey as per 2009.Just like the rest of the world, also in our country a significant part of the total energy is being used for heating, air conditioning, ventilation and lighting to provide user comfort at the buildings. At Turkey, approximately % 70 of the consumed total energy is imported and this ratio is increasing. The energy import of Turkey is expected to reach to % 73 at 2010, % 78 at 2020. The distribution by sectors of energy expenditure which is consumed by relying on outside sources in Turkey is shown in illustration 1.The methods which will be enhanced for the usage of productive energy is very important for countries like Turkey, a country which rely on outside sources at energy expenditures.To increase the energy productivity, Green Certification Programmes, in their evaluation methods for sustainable buildings, have the standards of the systems which controls the energy expenditure of the building with the building itself and with additional systems. What targeted is to provide the minimum level of energy expenditure without sacrificing the comfort of the user.It has a high importance of these programmes to be evaluated for the countries like Turkey which has a high outsourcing, for decreasing the global negative effects and increasing the energy productivity which will lead to progress.Construction sector has a very high potential of employment volume for Turkey and offers a significant economical market to the country. Its positive influence on employment and market effects in terms of the progress of the country is inevitable. But it comprises important threat factors prospectively from the point of the negative effects it creates on global warming. This unfavorable situation from the point of countries which rely on outside sources in energy like Turkey is an additional threat factor for the long-term evaluation of the economy.Thereby its important for the building production process at Turkey to transform into sustainability. In this regard this certification systems are going to play a key role. Being in the first application process accordingly, a right performed result assessment later on could play a leading role from the point of sustainable methods applied on building production.In this context the aim of this study is, to evaluate how these certificate programmes which are still advancing globally participated at Turkey?s building production process and at the period of ever-developing of green certifications yet, to present the road map of the green certification at Turkey by determining the expectations formed at building production and the problems faced at production process.