Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a methodology for assessing, in quantifiable terms, the reduction in environmental impacts achieved by applying different credits of sustainability rating systems in building construction projects. Design/methodology/approach – Sustainability rating systems are developed in various regions to evaluate construction projects with respect to their environmental performance. Although implementation of rating systems had a recognized effect on reducing environmental impact of construction projects, there is no objective and quantifiable evidence that the approaches recommended by these rating systems to achieve the required certification lead to optimum environmental results. This paper presents a methodology that utilizes life cycle analysis (LCA) as a powerful and objective tool to validate the way rating systems evaluate project performance. The Qatar Sustainability Assessment System (QSAS), recently developed in the State of Qatar by Gulf Organization for Research and Development (GORD), is chosen as a case study to illustrate application of the developed methodology. Environmental impacts due to implementation of QSAS credits are calculated for one project in Qatar, which is currently under construction. Findings – Results reveal possible use of LCA as a tool for evaluating the effectiveness of rating systems. For the QSAS case study, findings reveal indications of over and, in some instances, under estimation of the weights assigned to some credits and the difficulty in the quantification of the impacts of other credits, which indicates the need for reconsideration of these weights to improve effectiveness of the implementation of these credits. Originality/value – The proposed methodology stands as a step toward the enhancement and rationalization of the currently used building sustainability ratings system.

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Conservation of energy consumption in the construction industry is becoming more important than ever due to global issues related to the increased energy demand. Energy consumption in heating and cooling systemsfor commercial and residential buildings is a major portion of the overall energy consumption. One important approach to respond to this type of consumption is to enhance the thermal resistance (R value) of building envelopes with a special focus on the insulation materials. Nanotechnology as an emergent science and engineering field is developing solutions to enhance the resistance value of different building products withinnovative methodsincluding, reducing the pore size of insulation materials. This paper presents a review of utilization of nano-enabled products to improve insulation materials. The research involves exploring the literatures that cover area of technology application in addition to the commercial products currently being offered in the construction market. Findings indicate that the relatively high cost of the nano-products is due to lack of both mass production and familiarity of public to these products.

Implementation of sustainability practices in construction projects is highly dependent on the policies adopted by governmental authorities. Therefore, it is critical for decision makers in authority entities to understand, in measurable terms, the possible consequence of implementing different policies and hence select the combination of policies that leads to optimum positive results. The objective of this paper is to present a framework for assessing the impact of different sustainability policies using agent based modeling and life cycle analysis. Under the presented framework, while agent based modeling is proposed to simulate the diffusion of sustainability in a construction market, discrete event modeling is used to map the interaction of main stakeholders in order to model selection of sustainability credits on a project level. Life cycle analysis is introduced as an objective quantifiable tool to assess the saved environmental impact associated with application of project sustainability credits as a result of targeting certification levels in light of the adopted sustainability policies. The saved impact on the level of projects is expanded to represent the full market and therefore reach an approximate assessment of the saved impact due to applying different policies. The proposed framework is designed to the case of the state of Qatar and can be utilized for other markets provided necessary customization is considered.