GreenCalc+ weighed

Based on the calculations of the GreenCalc+ (v2.01) programme, the Zuidkas’ EIB (Environmental Index Building) score is 729. Our objection to this programme is that it suggests an objective measurement of a building’s sustainability. In our view, a building’s actual sustainability values are far sooner found in subjective factors like connectivity, beauty and quality of life – factors that cannot be measured according to purely objective criteria. But ‘hard’, quantifiable factors are also difficult to assess when the object of study is a complex building that combines a variety of functions. Basing ourselves on the sustainability aspects as we have incorporated them in our Zuidkas design, we can only conclude that GreenCalc+ takes insufficient or imprecise account of a number of factors. These include:

• CO₂-reduction
• Excess for future flexibility
• Different natural heating and refrigeration principless
• The distribution of shadows and optimum structuring within the building
• The energy advantages of a mix of functions
• Energy savings thanks to the recycling of waste and black water