Because buildings consume and discard resources and energy in enormous quantities, we must develop and promote techniques and policies to assist the drive towards sustainability. There has been a growing movement towards sustainable construction since the second half of the 1980s, leading to the development of various methods for evaluating the environmental performance of buildings.
Methods developed overseas include BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method) in the UK, LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environment Design) in the USA, and SB Tool (Sustainable Building Tool) as an international project. These methods have attracted interest around the world. This kind of assessment, with the publication of the results, is one of the best methods now available to provide an incentive for clients, owners, designers and users to develop and promote highly sustainable construction practices.
CASBEE was developed according to the following policies:
- The system should be structured to award high assessments to superior buildings, thereby enhancing incentives to designers and others.
- The assessment system should be as simple as possible.
- The system should be applicable to buildings in a wide range of building types.
- The system should take into consideration issues and problems peculiar to Japan and Asia.