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COVER FEATURE
INGENIEUR
Green Rating Tools in Malaysia - Are we spoilt for choice ?
By Ir . Chen Thiam Leong
The emergence of the modern day green rating tool can be traced back to 1990 with the birth of the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method ( BREEAM 1 ). The Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design ( LEED 2 ) came along in 1998 and with typical Yankee marketing prowess , has since captured the lion ’ s share of the global market . As the green movement spread , various national tools tailored to green criteria addressed and suited their respective local climatic needs and local priorities began to emerge . Meanwhile , the success of green awareness and its associated business opportunities led to the proliferation of rating tools , sometimes ( unfortunately ) in conjunction with serving other interests .
In Malaysia , it would appear that the public is spoilt for choice when it comes to green rating tools , often to the extent of being overwhelmed and confused by lobbyists . This article will try to provide some insight into the ongoing market development and hopefully the savvy users can distinguish between the serious green rating tools , greenwashing tools , KPI tools and the rest .
An interesting way to lead this discourse is with the following questions :
1 . What is the latest count on the number of Green Rating tools in the market ?
2 . How many of these are developed for sustainability and how many otherwise ?
3 . What is the progress of Malaysia ’ s own Green Building Index ( GBI ) since its launch in May 2009 ?
Number of Green Rating Tools
The following statistics will serve to provide a quick overview on Green Rating Tools worldwide :
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How many countries are there in the world ? 196
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How many countries have their own Green Build ( GB 3 ) tool ? There are easily more than 50 tools in use within the World Green Building Council ( WGBC ’ s 4 ) roll call of 77 member countries and 30 potential member countries .
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Which country has developed the most number of their own GB / Green tools and how many ? Though a late starter , Malaysians are certainly prolific green tool developers with the latest count standing at nine , namely :
26 VOL 69 JANUARY-MARCH 2017