A review of leed green building certification systems in Europe anturkey

This study reviews LEED green building certification system which is used most widely in Turkey and in the world. A LEED green building certificate can be obtained by meeting different criteria of the review system and therefore each LEED certified building can have different features. This study reviewed all new buildings in Europe and Turkey, which have LEED Gold certificates. Additionally, the LEED green building certification system criteria which were met by more than 150 buildings to obtain the certification were listed and the percentages of the criteria that were met in Europe and in Turkey were determined. Based on these percentages, the criteria that were mostly preferred and those that were not generally avoided by certified buildings were shown. And by comparing these percentages the most important differences between in Turkey and Europe were identified and the reasons for these differences were investigated. Based on the above, it was concluded that the performance of LEED certified buildings in Turkey were poorer than in Europe especially in energy. Although they have the same certification levels, green buildings in Europe are more energy efficient than those in Turkey. In areas such as brownfield redevelopment, light pollution caused by the building, use of certified wood, low VOC (volatile organic compounds) content in floorings and occupant line of sight, buildings in Turkey lag behind the buildings in Europe. In Turkey, regulations and the education level in the industry in these areas are not up to the standards of Europe.