Measuring Sustainability and Performance

What makes a design, product or project sustainable? First of all, we have to define what sustainability is. Similar to the "green" terminology, sustainability is a terminology that is often exploited by profiteers who just want to make money out of it. Adding batteries to an SUV doesn't necessarily make it green. Using supposedly green products that are shipped from distanced countries doesn't necessarily make one's consumption greener either. Does the energy saved from using a fluorescent light bulb worth the mercury that it needs? Is LED more sustainable than CFL?

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/08/led-lights-vs-cfl-life-cycle-study-energy-efficiency.php

The benefits of using LED and CFL can be found on this website. However, the website only compares the energy use to manufacture and operate LED and CFL. How about the environmental impact after the end of their life? Energy is not the only resource that impacts the environment, even though it is one of the key resources. What happens after its end of life?

http://www.sustreport.org/indicators/nrtee_esdi.html

Canada's Sustainability Indicators Initiative (CSII) identifies six sustainability indicators, namely, air quality, freshwater quality, greenhouse gas emissions, forest depletion, wetlands, and human capitals. These indicators are better suited to Canada, and probably industries that generate impacts on these indicators. We can safely state that these indicators are not conclusive, and probably more indicators have to be included in order to make the measurement of sustainability more conclusive.

http://www.sustreport.org/indicators/other_systems.html

Several agencies have developed some forms of sustainability measurement systems or indicators. These indicators are focused on specific issues or sectors. For example, the Ecological Footprints (http://www.rprogress.org/sustainability_indicators/about_sustainability_indicators.htm) is aimed at measuring the sustainability of a community.

USGBC LEED (http://www.usgbc.org/) is an indicator of the sustainability of a building, building maintenance process, design, and community.

These indicators are very specific and fulfill their intended purposes. However, these indicators do not require data or models to function. So there is no way of knowing whether a LEED Gold project is more sustainable than a LEED Silver project or a certified green product is more sustainable than one that is not.

http://www.allbusiness.com/environment-natural-resources/ecology-environmental/12723068-1.html

How does this paper address the key issue of sustainability information modeling?