JETRO Green Building Report Vol.
3
Russell Vare, Green Technology Advisor
Comparative Analysis of United States and
Japanese Green Building Policy
Summary
Green building standard adoption is growing worldwide. Many countries have developed
their own standards, such as BREEAM in the United Kingdom, VERDE in Spain, and
BERDE in the Philippines. Each country’s standard has a different method to evaluate a
sustainable building. This report looks at the differences between LEED in the United
States and CASBEE in Japan. Each have a similar goal to promote sustainable
construction and higher environmental standards, but are developed from fundamentally
different approaches.
Introduction
The Japanese and American approach to building design is strongly influenced by their
homeland attributes. Japan is an island nation that is very densely populated, with 127
million inhabitants in a country that is only 146,000 square miles. Compare that to the US
with 300 million people on 3.7 million square miles of land.1 That is a bit more than
twice the number of people, but 25 times the amount of land. Japan has considerably less
space, less natural resources and less domestic fossil fuels. There is a historic difference
of how energy is used.
Ever since the 1970’s oil supply shocks, the Japanese government has implemented
aggressive energy efficiency polices. The first series of legislation was called “The Law
Concerning the Rational Use of Energy,” passed in 1979.2 There have been many
additional energy conservation laws added overtime that regulate factories, commercial
buildings and now the residential sector. In addition to regulations, consumer demand has
driven energy efficiency because residential electricity rates are much higher in Japan.
According to the International Energy Agency, Japan’s residential electricity rates are
around 24 cents kw/h, about double the US average of 12 cents kw/h. More expensive
electricity means higher costs to heat, cool, light and operate a building, and therefore a
greater incentive to use electricity as efficiently as possible. This thinking has even lead
into product design. For example, duct HVAC systems in the US cool and heat the entire
building. Every day in the US, massive amounts of energy are used to adjust the climate
of rooms that are empty.
The Japanese approach has been to build HVAC systems that heat and cool occupants.
For example, Daikin uses a Variable Refrigerant Volume system in their HVAC unit that
1 Compiled from the United Nations World Prospects Report
(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_population_density)
2 http://www.asiaeec-col.eccj.or.jp/chronicle/index.html
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uses heat pump and inverter technology, saving 40-48% of energy use compared to a
traditional duct system. Japan has a different approach to product design, innovation and
technology development. More efficient HVAC systems are just one example of years of
green building technology development coming from Japan.
These factors have lead Japan to be ranked as the most energy-efficient economy in the
world. According to a recent Forbes Magazine report, Japan consumes only 4500 BTUs
for every one US dollar of GDP.3 The measurement used to evaluate was an index of
“energy intensity,” that compares GDP to BTUs consumed. In other words, how much
output a country produces as a whole versus the amount of energy used. European
countries ranked closely behind Japan with the UK coming in at 6,100 BTUs per dollar
and Germany at 7,400 BTUs. The US came in double that of Japan at 9,000 BTUs per
dollar and China at a whopping 35,000 BTUs.
Japan’s limited space, higher energy costs and culture of environmental awareness
provide a different philosophy for building and energy use. It has also lead to a unique
approach to green building policy.
Japan Green Building Policy
Japan has seen an increase in sustainable buildings, but very little has come from
regulation. There is no top-down, mandatory green building regulation in Japan like you
see in European countries. The green building guidelines that exist are called CASBEE
(Comprehensive Assessment System for Building Environmental Efficiency). The Japan
Sustainable Building Consortium developed CASBEE in 2002, in conjunction with
several other Japanese government agencies including the Ministry of Land,
Infrastructure and Transportation (MLIT). Since its inception, 15 major local
governments across the country have mandated the use of CASBEE, or have created
incentive programs to help promote its adoption. Osaka City and Nagoya City will
subsidize highly rated projects, Kawasaki City provides lower interest rate home loans,
and other cities provide some flexibility in the building permit and review process.4 As of
January 2009, more than 3,600 buildings have been submitted for CASBEE evaluation.5
CASBEE measures both the improvement in living amenities for building users within a
property (a hypothetical enclosed space), and the negative environmental impacts within
and outside the property.6 This creates a more holistic view of how a building interacts
with the surrounding environment. While the rating system is complex, the result is a
simple, clear presentation of environmental performance.7
3 http://www.forbes.com/2008/07/03/energy-efficiency-japan-biz-energy_cx_jz_0707efficiency_countries.html
4 From Shuzo Murakami presentation (p. 26): http://www.iea.org/work/2009/standards/Murakami.pdf
5 From Shuzo Murakami, Building Research Institute presentation -
http://www.iea.org/work/2009/standards/Murakami.pdf
6 http://www.ibec.or.jp/CASBEE/english/backgroundE.htm
7http://www.kellogg.northwestern.edu/Departments/International/InternationalFocus/Article/The_Green_Bui
lding_Movement_in_Japan.aspx
2
Figure 1 A visual representation of the Environmental Quality and Environmental
Load (courtesy CASBEE website)
The ranking system is structured into two main categories. First, Environmental Quality
assesses the living space and can be thought of as, “how healthy is the building for the
user?” It is measured by:
1) Indoor environment
2) Quality of service
3) Outdoor environment on site
The Environmental Load, or the space outside the property, can be thought of as, “how
healthy is the building for the planet?” It measures:
1) Energy
2) Resource & Materials
3) Off-site environment
Once the total Environmental Quality (EQ) and Environmental Load (EL) are measured,
they can be compared (as a ratio) to find the Building Environmental Efficiency (BEE).
Figure 2 Description of BEE equation (courtesy Shuzo Murakami, Building
Research Institute)
A high BEE score is attributed to a sustainable building and represents a low
environmental impact. The scores, or ratios, have the following rankings: from Excellent
(S), Very Good (A), Good (B+), Fairly Poor (B-) and finally Poor (C).
CASBEE has expanded and there are now categories for residential, new construction,
existing buildings, renovations and heat island. CASBEE’s unique design has also
allowed for the expansion to evaluate an urban scale and has added two categories: Urban
Development and City. Because the CASBEE system is designed to evaluate a
hypothetical enclosed space, it can be expanded to review an entire metropolitan area.
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The urban scale CASBEE is used to assess the environmental performance of the Eco-
Model Cities project. Eco-Model Cities is a demonstration program of multiple
sustainability projects in 15 urban and rural cities across the country.
US Green Building Policy Overview
Unlike Japan, the US has had little history in building efficiency regulations or
technology developments. During the 1970’s energy crisis, California created Title 24
standards in 1978 and mandated energy efficiency building codes. This has created
significant energy savings for the state, but was not adopted nationally.
The United States has several green building standards including the National Green
Building Standard, Green Point Rated, Green Globes, CalGreen, and Leadership in
Energy and Environmental Design (LEED). LEED, developed by the US Green Building
Council (USGBC), is the most well known and the de facto standard among the
commercial building segment. Most LEED adoption has been voluntary, sought by
organizations that want recognition as an environmental steward. More than 35,000
public and private projects are aspiring for LEED certified buildings. There are 45 states
with policies or directives to incorporate LEED buildings into new construction or
retrofits.8 According to the USGBC:
Various LEED initiatives including legislation, executive orders,
resolutions, ordinances, policies, and incentives are found in 45
states, including 195 localities (132 cities, 35 counties, and 28
towns), 34 state governments, 13 federal agencies or departments,
17 public school jurisdictions and 39 institutions of higher
education across the United States.
The wide adoption of LEED standards by city councils, state government and federal
agencies presumably assures that the US green building market will be led by these
standards for years to come.
In fact, the green building market is strongly embracing LEED as a marketing tool.
Many of the new products entering the market are shaped around the LEED certification
points, or are being marketed to show what areas of LEED certification the product may
be eligible for. The LEED categories are divided into the following areas:
Sustainable sites
Water efficiency
Energy and Atmosphere
Materials and Resources
Indoor Environmental Quality
Innovation in Design
8 (http://www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CMSPageID=1852)
4
See this example of an American company, called Kirei, which sells sustainable building
materials. Their brochure markets various products according to which categories are
LEED eligible. 9
Although LEED is the most prominent standard for green building design, it is not the
only standard.
Green Point Rated, developed by Build it Green, a non-profit in the San Francisco Bay
Area, is currently a California leader green building standards for residential. To
complicate matters in California, the state recently adopted CalGreen, a mandatory green
building code. These codes are from the ICC (International Code Council) and were
adopted statewide in 2009.10 Currently, most of the green building practices are
9Kirei brochure courtesy of Kirei from their website at www.kireiusa.org
10California now joins 48 other states using ICC codes,
http://www4.iccsafe.org/news/ePeriodicals/eNews/archive/ICCeNews_0207.html
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suggested, not regulated. However, as California adopts more aggressive green building
standards in the future, it is likely they will continue with the ICC codes, rather than the
LEED standards.
This is expected to create confusion in the market place, for both the construction
industry and consumers. It will be difficult to determine which codes to follow and how
to determine the difference in sustainability among new buildings. Without a single rating
system, it is difficult to compare “apples to apples.”
In addition to comprehensive green building standards, policies specific to one topic are
getting attention in some cities and counties. For example, a new regulation passed in
Toronto on May 26, 2009 requires all new buildings (of a certain size) to have green
roofs.11 This was a city-level ordinance and there is a chance it may be a trend for other
city councils in the future. In another example, the City of Los Angeles just adopted a
Low Impact Development Ordinance that creates specific regulations for storm water
management and other water uses that is separate from any green building standard.
Specific environmental issues will likely be adopted on a regional basis, independent
from a green building standard.
Comparison between countries
The USGBC established itself as a non-profit in 1994 and released the first LEED rating
system in 1998. The organization has grown significantly from a handful of individuals to
now more than 78 local affiliates, 20,000 member organizations and more than 100,000
LEED Accredited Professionals.12 The organization has more than 200 employees and is
very influential in the industry. LEED has successfully created a new and expanding
market for green building products, driving innovations in technologies that adhere to its
rating system. There is no doubt LEED has been responsible for the dramatic market
transformation in the last ten years since its introduction. Even with competing green
building standards in the US, LEED is guaranteed to “lead” for years to come.
The LEED system has a systematic approach, based on a checklist that helps to keep
evaluation relatively simple. Creating a checklist for sustainability makes it easier, but it
may risk the overarching goal of sustainability, by keeping too focused on a guideline
rather than an ideal. Author Daniel Brook cited, "the point system creates perverse
incentives to design around the checklist rather than to build the greenest building
possible.”13 He cites an example where a $395 bike rack is worth the same as a $1.3
million environmentally sensitive heating system. A building may achieve a high LEED
rating, but still may not make environmental sense depending on how it is incorporated to
the wider community.
CASBEE, on the other hand, was initiated with the support of a government bureau
(MILT), as a joint industry/academia/government project.14 It is evident in the conceptual
11 http://www.toronto.ca/greenroofs/index.htm
12 According to the USGBC website - http://www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CMSPageID=124
13 http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/01/slate_on_decide.php
14 http://www.globest.com/news/1386_1386/insider/178149-1.html
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design of the Japanese model, as the approach is more theoretical, and less systematic.
There is a comprehensive and holistic approach, that may seem more abstract in some
ways, but it enables the concept to easily be applied to the urban scale.
In addition, new products that come to market will not be heavily influenced by the
CASBEE system, and will still come from Japan’s long history of designing energy
efficient and sustainable products. There are no checklists or point-ratings to meet; rather
there are broader goals of improving environmental quality and reducing environmental
load.
Conclusion
History has influenced American and Japanese green building technology and policy.
Green building in Japan and the US are similar in that both have had a “bottom-up”
adoption. CASBEE and LEED building standards are being implemented regionally, as
opposed to “top-down” national or federal regulation. However, the formation and the
philosophy of each building standard are fundamentally different. LEED is a systematic
checklist created and promoted by industry professionals, whereas CASBEE was a
government initiative with a more holistic approach to sustainability.
The US has an opportunity to learn from Japan’s experience in both technology and
policy. Japan’s long history of energy efficient and sustainable building materials
provides a host of new green building technologies, including many products that have
been proven in Japan for years. Many rank well in the CASBEE system and qualify for
LEED points.
The US may also be able to learn from Japan’s approach to building standards that
incorporate entire communities and cities. By evaluating on a broader scale, the US can
avoid creating a green building that may meet a checklist, but fails to integrate with
environmental goals of the surrounding area. CASBEE’s flexible approach allows for
many creative solutions to improving efficiency, reducing energy use, and improving the
user experience.
