Assessment of Design-Effective Low-Carbon Building Criteria in Iran

Iran is one of top ten CO2 emitting countries in the world and as a signatory of the Paris Agreement, has to reduce 4–8 percent of the overall CO2 emissions by 2030. The building sector is one of the most cost-effective opportunities for CO2 emission reduction. Low-carbon buildings are designed and constructed to emit very little carbon during their lifecycle. This research aims to identify appropriate categories and criteria for assessing low-carbon building in Iran. These criteria were assessed using Delphi technique in multiple rounds. Thus, in this study, 30 Iranian experts were selected based on their experiences in the building construction industry and building sustainability assessment to participate in the Delphi process. The experts were selected from different backgrounds one-third from consultant companies, one-third from government authorities, and the remaining third from institutions and universities. The “interquartile range” and “Standard Deviation” were selected to measure the consensus and “Mean” was used to assess the importance of each criterion. Ninety-four criteria were classified into seven categories which are location and site, architecture, material and construction, energy efficiency, water efficiency, indoor environmental quality, and renewable energy. The most important criteria are "environmental design" and " improvement of the building envelope". This paper reviews policy, laws, regulations, and standards to understand the implementation platform of important criteria in each category:Location and site: It is recommended that low-carbon criteria be considered in the future national planning and land master plans. Architecture: There are regulations such as Code No. 19 (energy efficiency in buildings) and Code No. 4 (General building requirements) of Iranian national building regulations. It is proposed that in the future editions of Code No. 4, low-carbon building criteria such as "rethinking the form and shape of the building and height of stories" and "rethinking zoning and space planning" should be considered. Material and construction: There is an official policy incentive to the standardization of materials. Code No. 5 of Iranian national building regulations (Materials and building components) has environmental, health, and safety implementation requirements for conventional materials. Energy efficiency: Code No. 19 of Iranian national building regulations represents rules for the design and implementationof important criteria and there are legal incentives and governmental funds for implementation of Code No. 19. Water efficiency: There is an official policy incentive for optimization and monitoring of water consumption in different building types. Indoor environmental quality: It is recommended to compile thermal and visual comfort standards for buildings. Renewable energy: Iran has a great potential for renewable energy, but it is not economically viable. There are regulations and standards for implementing renewable energy. The output of this research is identification of low-carbon building criteria and assessment of the importance of each criterion based on the country's context. It would help architects to deliver the low-carbon design and it is useful for policymakers to direct building industry to a low-carbon future.