Drivers for implementing green building technologies: An international survey of experts

In recent years, green building technologies (GBTs) have gradually been implemented to minimize negative impacts of the construction industry on the environment, economy, and society. In order to encourage widespread adoption of GBTs, a better and deeper understanding of the drivers for implementing GBTs is necessary. This study aims to identify the major drivers of GBTs implementation. The methodological framework used consists of a comprehensive literature review and a questionnaire survey of international green building (GB) experts, rather than experts in a particular country. The results of statistical analyses of 104 expert responses indicate that the top five drivers for implementing GBTs are energy-efficiency, reduced environmental impact, water-efficiency, occupants’ health and comfort and satisfaction, and company image/reputation. Results from t-test analysis confirm that out of the 21 drivers examined, 13 are perceived to be significant. The Kendall's concordance test shows that though the experts were from different countries and with diverse backgrounds, a good consensus was reached in their rankings of the drivers. The Mann-Whitney U test also verifies the absence of significant differences among the experts in ranking most of the drivers. The findings of this study not only contribute to deepened understanding of the major factors that greatly drive GBTs implementation, but could also encourage the industry practitioners and stakeholders aiming at achieving better construction sustainability to further implement GBTs in the future. From the perspective of international GB experts, this study makes a contribution to the body of knowledge about GBTs implementation drivers, which is important for GBTs promotion.