IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i14p7871-d594152.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

User Experience of Green Building Certification Resources: EarthCraft Multifamily

Author

Listed:
  • Dwayne Jefferson

    (Charles Edward Via, Jr., Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Virginia Tech, 114 Patton Hall, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA)

  • Frederick Paige

    (Charles Edward Via, Jr., Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Virginia Tech, 114 Patton Hall, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA)

  • Philip Agee

    (Department of Building Construction, Virginia Tech, 430 Bishop-Favrao Hall, Blacksburg, VA 24061, USA)

  • France Jackson

    (UX Research & Design Intel Corporation, 6380 NE Cherry Drive #309, Hillsboro, OR 97124, USA)

Abstract

To improve the construction industry’s capacity to deliver sustainable infrastructure, guidance on delivering green building systems needs to be more usable. Green buildings have certifications and ratings in place that ensure that projects are environmentally responsible and meet standards in resource efficiency. EarthCraft Multifamily (ECMF), an evolving green building certification, has been successful in increasing the delivery of energy-efficient affordable housing, and this study leverages user experience (UX) methodologies to understand how to further improve ECMF and replicate its success. This study identifies the impact ECMF tools and resources, such as the program manual, worksheet, and technical guidelines, have on enhancing project delivery for architects. This study conducted data analysis on project specifications, heuristic evaluation data, and stakeholder interview data. As the strengths and weaknesses of ECMF were identified, knowledge on the usability of the green building certification program was unveiled. Heuristic evaluations data show that accessibility and usability issues are present in ECMF resources. Interview data show that architects’ experiences with ECMF resources were affected by some of the usability issues identified in the heuristic evaluation data. Coded interview transcripts show the most prominent participant-identified improvements represented within the data. Resources need appropriate visual representation such as readability and hierarchy to improve their usability. Understanding how ECMF resources are utilized during project delivery allows for the appropriate content and options to be strategically framed to improve accessibility and enhance user decision making. ECMF resources can allow for the inclusion of a broader set of stakeholders by lowering the level of expertise required for sustainable infrastructure delivery.

Suggested Citation

  • Dwayne Jefferson & Frederick Paige & Philip Agee & France Jackson, 2021. "User Experience of Green Building Certification Resources: EarthCraft Multifamily," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(14), pages 1-23, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:14:p:7871-:d:594152
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/14/7871/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/14/7871/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Anthony Onwuegbuzie & Nancy Leech, 2005. "Taking the “Q” Out of Research: Teaching Research Methodology Courses Without the Divide Between Quantitative and Qualitative Paradigms," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 39(3), pages 267-295, June.
    2. Eric Johnson & Suzanne Shu & Benedict Dellaert & Craig Fox & Daniel Goldstein & Gerald Häubl & Richard Larrick & John Payne & Ellen Peters & David Schkade & Brian Wansink & Elke Weber, 2012. "Beyond nudges: Tools of a choice architecture," Marketing Letters, Springer, vol. 23(2), pages 487-504, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Chandan Swaroop Meena & Ashwani Kumar & Siddharth Jain & Ateeq Ur Rehman & Sachin Mishra & Naveen Kumar Sharma & Mohit Bajaj & Muhammad Shafiq & Elsayed Tag Eldin, 2022. "Innovation in Green Building Sector for Sustainable Future," Energies, MDPI, vol. 15(18), pages 1-16, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Miguel Godinho de Matos & Pedro Ferreira, 2020. "The Effect of Binge-Watching on the Subscription of Video on Demand: Results from Randomized Experiments," Information Systems Research, INFORMS, vol. 31(4), pages 1337-1360, December.
    2. Cristiano Codagnone & Giuseppe Alessandro Veltri & Francesco Bogliacino & Francisco Lupiáñez-Villanueva & George Gaskell & Andriy Ivchenko & Pietro Ortoleva & Francesco Mureddu, 2016. "Labels as nudges? An experimental study of car eco-labels," Economia Politica: Journal of Analytical and Institutional Economics, Springer;Fondazione Edison, vol. 33(3), pages 403-432, December.
    3. Vaidya, Shalvaree, 2021. "The impact of premium subsidies on health plan choices in Switzerland: Who responds to the incentives set by in-kind as opposed to cash transfers?," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 125(6), pages 675-684.
    4. Haoyang Yan & J. Frank Yates, 2019. "Improving acceptability of nudges: Learning from attitudes towards opt-in and opt-out policies," Judgment and Decision Making, Society for Judgment and Decision Making, vol. 14(1), pages 26-39, January.
    5. Matthew Darling & Jaclyn Lefkowitz & Samia Amin & Irma Perez-Johnson & Greg Chojnacki & Mikia Manley, "undated". "Practitioner’s Playbook for Applying Behavioral Insights to Labor Programs," Mathematica Policy Research Reports e5d4ae723fa74caa878938a6b, Mathematica Policy Research.
    6. Grandi, Benedetta & Burt, Steve & Cardinali, Maria Grazia, 2021. "Encouraging healthy choices in the retail store environment: Combining product information and shelf allocation," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    7. Kim Kaleva Kaivanto & Peng Zhang, 2016. "A Resolution of Emissions-Estimate Confusion for Informing Flight Choice," Working Papers 115969274, Lancaster University Management School, Economics Department.
    8. Karen S Hamrick & Margaret Andrews, 2016. "SNAP Participants’ Eating Patterns over the Benefit Month: A Time Use Perspective," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(7), pages 1-18, July.
    9. Katharina Momsen & Sebastian O. Schneider, 2022. "Motivated Reasoning, Information Avoidance, and Default Bias," Discussion Paper Series of the Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods 2022_03, Max Planck Institute for Research on Collective Goods.
    10. Wansink, Brian, 2017. "Healthy Profits: An Interdisciplinary Retail Framework that Increases the Sales of Healthy Foods," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 93(1), pages 65-78.
    11. Karen Bell & Eldin Fahmy & David Gordon, 2016. "Quantitative conversations: the importance of developing rapport in standardised interviewing," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 50(1), pages 193-212, January.
    12. Folke Ölander & John Thøgersen, 2014. "Informing Versus Nudging in Environmental Policy," Journal of Consumer Policy, Springer, vol. 37(3), pages 341-356, September.
    13. repec:cup:judgdm:v:8:y:2013:i:5:p:617-629 is not listed on IDEAS
    14. James F. M. Cornwell & David H. Krantz, 2014. "Public policy for thee, but not for me: Varying the grammatical person of public policy justifications influences their support," Judgment and Decision Making, Society for Judgment and Decision Making, vol. 9(5), pages 433-444, September.
    15. Idris Adjerid & Alessandro Acquisti & George Loewenstein, 2019. "Choice Architecture, Framing, and Cascaded Privacy Choices," Management Science, INFORMS, vol. 67(5), pages 2267-2290, May.
    16. Stephan Hankammer & Robin Kleer & Frank T. Piller, 2021. "Sustainability nudges in the context of customer co-design for consumer electronics," Journal of Business Economics, Springer, vol. 91(6), pages 897-933, August.
    17. Mathieu Despard & Stephen Roll & Michal Grinstein‐Weiss & Bradley Hardy & Jane Oliphant, 2023. "Can behavioral nudges and incentives help lower‐income households build emergency savings with tax refunds? Evidence from field and survey experiments," Journal of Consumer Affairs, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(1), pages 245-263, January.
    18. Andrew J Barnes & Yaniv Hanoch & Thomas Rice, 2016. "Can Plan Recommendations Improve the Coverage Decisions of Vulnerable Populations in Health Insurance Marketplaces?," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 11(3), pages 1-19, March.
    19. Howard Kunreuther & Elke U. Weber, 2014. "Aiding Decision-Making to Reduce the Impacts of Climate Change," NBER Working Papers 19776, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    20. Dellaert, B.G.C. & Johnson, E.J. & Baker, T., 2019. "Choice Architecture for Healthier Insurance Choices: Ordering and Partitioning Can Improve Decisions," ERIM Report Series Research in Management ERS-2019-008-MKT, Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), ERIM is the joint research institute of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) at Erasmus University Rotterdam.
    21. Egebark, Johan & Ekström, Mathias, 2016. "Can indifference make the world greener?," Journal of Environmental Economics and Management, Elsevier, vol. 76(C), pages 1-13.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:14:p:7871-:d:594152. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.