Green Building Index, Malaysia
Posted: August 24, 2009 by Jimmy Lee, Category:Building Regulations, Sustainability
Malaysia, one of the tropical countries in the South East Asia region is now moving towards Green Architecture.
After some studies in different green building rating schemes around the globe, Malaysia set up, in April 2009, a rating scheme to suit the local market, it is called Green Building Index (GBI). The GBI is an environmental rating system for buildings developed by PAM (Malaysian Institute of Architects) and ACEM (the Association of Consulting Engineers, Malaysia). It is Malaysia’s first comprehensive rating system for evaluating the environmental design and performance of Malaysian buildings based on six main categories: Energy Efficiency, Indoor Environmental Quality, Sustainable Site Planning & Management, Materials and Resources, Water Efficiency and Innovations.
The GBI scheme developed specially for the Malaysian tropical weather, environmental and development contetx, cultural and social needs. It is currently split into two types, residental and non-residental buildings.
A quick summary on the credits distribution for a residential and a non-residential building is shown below:
-
- GBI points allocation chart for non-residential buildings
-
- GBI points allocation chart for residential buildings
The GBI classification is as below:
Points GBI rating
86+ points Platinum
76 to 85 points Gold
66 to 75 points Silver
50 to 65 points Certified
The scheme is still in the early stages and only a few projects are registered so far; however with a local rating scheme now in place, this will help increase the awareness over building sustainability. There is still a lot of work that needs to be done, and educatiing the building professions, government body and the public will be one of the key tasks for sustainable development in the country. Having said that, I do find articles related to sustainability and explaining “green buildings” appearing more often in the local newspaper nowadays. And there are also presentations, talks and seminars being held across the country at different states to pass on the message and knowledge. So things are on the right track, I believe.
If you are interested in the GBI scheme, please go to their official website for more information.
I certainly would like to see more sustainable developments on the Malaysia land in the future and the GBI scheme will hopefully be the right tool/guidelines that help lead building owners, building designers and other relevant parties towards the right direction.
Ohh before I end here, IES is one of the recommended software to carry out energy modelling and other simulation tasks for certain GBI points!
Jimmy Lee
