Research on Assessment Method of Green Buildings in China

Presently the sustainable development stratagem has made the green buildings to be a trend of building industry in China, and the assessment to the green buildings is becoming more and more important in developing the green buildings. In this paper the meaning of the green building assessment is explained, several main domestic and foreign green building assessment systems are analyzed and compared, and the common ground and limitations of these assessment methods are presented. Then a novel assessment index system which is more comprehensive, scientific and suitable for green buildings in China is developed by using the life cycle assessment method. This system contains six categories including land saving and outdoor environment, energy saving and utilization, material saving and utilization, water saving and utilization, indoor environment quality and economy. According to the decision-making stage, design stage, construction stage, operation and maintenance stage, each category is divided into more concrete indexes. At last the established assessment system is used to evaluate a typical building in Xi’an, China. The final novel assessment index system is of theoretical and practical significance for the assessment and development of green buildings in China.