Emergy analysis of building manufacturing, maintenance and use: Em-building indices to evaluate housing sustainability

In recent years, integrated building design practices based on the definition of “green building” criteria as common standards of measurement have been promoted. For example, Green Building Rating Systems such as LEED (US) and BREEAM (UK) provide national standards for developing high-performance sustainable buildings. However, integrated environmental accounting methods and global sustainability indicators are still required to evaluate the general environmental performances of buildings, because housing is greatly concerned with global environmental problems such as the use of non-renewable energy, the overexploitation of materials, the exhaustion of resources and the wasting of energy.