IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v9y2017i9p1674-d112613.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

LEED, Its Efficacy and Fallacy in a Regional Context—An Urban Heat Island Case in California

Author

Listed:
  • Min Ho Shin

    (Railroad System Research Center, Korea Railroad Research Institute, 360-1 Woram-dong, Uiwang-si, Gyeonggi-do 437-757, Korea)

  • Hwan Yong Kim

    (Division of Architecture and Urban Design, College of Urban Sciences, Incheon National University, 119 Academy-Ro, Songdo-dong, Yeonsu-Gu Incheon 22012, Korea)

  • Donghwan Gu

    (Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning, College of Architecture, Texas A & M University, 3137 TAMU, College Station, TX 77843, USA)

  • Hyoungsub Kim

    (Department of Architecture, College of Architecture, Texas A & M University, 3137 TAMU, College Station, TX 77843, USA)

Abstract

The use of energy in the building sector has increased rapidly over the past two decades. Accordingly, various building assessment methods have developed in green building practices. However, the questions still remain in regard to how positively green buildings affect regional surroundings. This study investigates the possible relationship between LEED-certified buildings and urban heat island effect. Using GIS with spatial regression, the study found that constructing an LEED building in a 30-m boundary could possibly lower the temperature of the surrounding environment by 0.35 °C. Also, having a higher certification level, such as Gold or Platinum, increased the lowering effect by 0.48 °C, while a lower certification level, such as Certified or Silver, had a lowering effect of 0.26 °C. Although LEED has gained a substantial amount of interest and skepticism at the same time, the study results could be a potential sign that the Sustainable Sites Credits or energy-efficient materials play a positive role in lowering the temperature.

Suggested Citation

  • Min Ho Shin & Hwan Yong Kim & Donghwan Gu & Hyoungsub Kim, 2017. "LEED, Its Efficacy and Fallacy in a Regional Context—An Urban Heat Island Case in California," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(9), pages 1-11, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:9:y:2017:i:9:p:1674-:d:112613
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/9/9/1674/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/9/9/1674/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Machairas, Vasileios & Tsangrassoulis, Aris & Axarli, Kleo, 2014. "Algorithms for optimization of building design: A review," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 101-112.
    2. Franz Fuerst & Patrick McAllister, 2011. "Green Noise or Green Value? Measuring the Effects of Environmental Certification on Office Values," Real Estate Economics, American Real Estate and Urban Economics Association, vol. 39(1), pages 45-69, March.
    3. Getis, Arthur, 2007. "Reflections on spatial autocorrelation," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(4), pages 491-496, July.
    4. Smith, Claire & Levermore, Geoff, 2008. "Designing urban spaces and buildings to improve sustainability and quality of life in a warmer world," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 36(12), pages 4558-4562, December.
    5. Piet Eichholtz & Nils Kok & John M. Quigley, 2010. "Doing Well by Doing Good? Green Office Buildings," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 100(5), pages 2492-2509, December.
    6. Andaloro, Antonio P.F. & Salomone, Roberta & Ioppolo, Giuseppe & Andaloro, Laura, 2010. "Energy certification of buildings: A comparative analysis of progress towards implementation in European countries," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 38(10), pages 5840-5866, October.
    7. Jonathan Wiley & Justin Benefield & Ken Johnson, 2010. "Green Design and the Market for Commercial Office Space," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 41(2), pages 228-243, August.
    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. Tajda Potrč Obrecht & Roman Kunič & Sabina Jordan & Mateja Dovjak, 2019. "Comparison of Health and Well-Being Aspects in Building Certification Schemes," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-15, May.
    2. Duy Hoang Pham & Joosung Lee & Yonghan Ahn, 2019. "Implementing LEED v4 BD+C Projects in Vietnam: Contributions and Challenges for General Contractor," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(19), pages 1-17, October.
    3. Oriol Pons-Valladares & Jelena Nikolic, 2020. "Sustainable Design, Construction, Refurbishment and Restoration of Architecture: A Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(22), pages 1-18, November.
    4. He, Bao-Jie & Wang, Junsong & Zhu, Jin & Qi, Jinda, 2022. "Beating the urban heat: Situation, background, impacts and the way forward in China," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 161(C).

    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. Rocco Curto & Elena Fregonara, 2019. "Monitoring and Analysis of the Real Estate Market in a Social Perspective: Results from the Turin’s (Italy) Experience," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-22, June.
    2. Jihwan Yeon & Seoki Lee & Phillip M Jolly & Anna S Mattila, 2023. "The impact of environmental management on firm performance in the U.S. lodging REITs: The moderating role of outside board of directors," Tourism Economics, , vol. 29(2), pages 513-532, March.
    3. Khazal, Aras & Sønstebø, Ole Jakob, 2020. "Valuation of energy performance certificates in the rental market – Professionals vs. nonprofessionals," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 147(C).
    4. Kok, Nils & Jennen, Maarten, 2012. "The impact of energy labels and accessibility on office rents," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 489-497.
    5. Liu, Nan & Zhao, Yuan & Ge, Jiaqi, 2018. "Do renters skimp on energy efficiency during economic recessions? Evidence from Northeast Scotland," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 165(PA), pages 164-175.
    6. Fuerst, Franz & Warren-Myers, Georgia, 2018. "Does voluntary disclosure create a green lemon problem? Energy-efficiency ratings and house prices," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 1-12.
    7. Dwight Jaffee & Richard Stanton & Nancy Wallace, 2019. "Energy Factors, Leasing Structure and the Market Price of Office Buildings in the U.S," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 59(3), pages 329-371, October.
    8. Ana Ramos & Alicia Pérez-Alonso & Susana Silva, 2015. "Valuing Energy Performance Certificates in the Portuguese Residential," Working Papers 02-2015, Economics for Energy.
    9. Gliedt, Travis & Hoicka, Christina E., 2015. "Energy upgrades as financial or strategic investment? Energy Star property owners and managers improving building energy performance," Applied Energy, Elsevier, vol. 147(C), pages 430-443.
    10. Odilon Costa & Franz Fuerst & Spenser Robinson & Wesley Mendes-da-Silva, 2017. "Are Green Labels More Valuable in Emerging Real Estate Markets?," LARES lares_2017_paper_5, Latin American Real Estate Society (LARES).
    11. Fuerst, Franz & McAllister, Patrick & Nanda, Anupam & Wyatt, Peter, 2015. "Does energy efficiency matter to home-buyers? An investigation of EPC ratings and transaction prices in England," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 48(C), pages 145-156.
    12. Liao, Wen-Chi & Zhao, Daxuan, 2019. "The selection and quantile treatment effects on the economic returns of green buildings," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 74(C), pages 38-48.
    13. Niina Leskinen & Jussi Vimpari & Seppo Junnila, 2020. "A Review of the Impact of Green Building Certification on the Cash Flows and Values of Commercial Properties," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(7), pages 1-22, March.
    14. Steffen Westermann & Scott Niblock & Michael Kortt, 2018. "Corporate social responsibility and the performance of Australian REITs: a rolling regression approach," Journal of Asset Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 19(4), pages 222-234, July.
    15. Ingrid Nappi-Choulet & Aurélien Decamps, 2012. "The impact of energy efficiency and green performance on the value of corporate real estate portfolios," ERES eres2012_145, European Real Estate Society (ERES).
    16. Daniel Broxterman & Tingyu Zhou, 2023. "Information Frictions in Real Estate Markets: Recent Evidence and Issues," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 66(2), pages 203-298, February.
    17. Prescott C. Ensign & Shawn Roy & Tom Brzustowski, 2021. "Decisions by Key Office Building Stakeholders to Build or Retrofit Green in Toronto’s Urban Core," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-31, June.
    18. Copiello, Sergio, 2017. "Building energy efficiency: A research branch made of paradoxes," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 1064-1076.
    19. Eichholtz, Piet & Kok, Nils & Yonder, Erkan, 2012. "Portfolio greenness and the financial performance of REITs," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 31(7), pages 1911-1929.
    20. Benedetto Manganelli & Pierluigi Morano & Francesco Tajani & Francesca Salvo, 2019. "Affordability Assessment of Energy-Efficient Building Construction in Italy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(1), pages 1-17, January.

    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:9:y:2017:i:9:p:1674-:d:112613. 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.