LEED-CI V3 AND V4 GOLD PROJECTS FOR OFFICE SPACES: THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SHANGHAI AND CALIFORNIA

The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system is currently progressing from version 3 (V3) to 4 (V4) with the aim of reducing environmental damage in the global construction sector. The LEED Commercial Interiors (LEED-CI) subsystem is widely used for office spaces, particularly in Shanghai and California. Comparing Shanghai and California in terms of LEED-CI projects can shed light on the ability of the LEED-CI subsystem to adapt to local green building standards and local environmental conditions. The aim of this study was to assess the difference between V3 and V4 LEED-CI Gold office projects using a comparison between Shanghai and California. The US Green Building Council and the Green Building Information Gateway databases were used to source LEED-CI V3 and V4 Gold office projects. The natural logarithm of the odds ratio and Fisher’s exact 2 × 2 tests with a mid p-value were used to evaluate the binary data, while the Cliff’s δ and exact Wilcoxon–Mann–Whitney tests were used to evaluate the ordinal data. The results show no difference between Shanghai and California in terms of LEED-CI V3 Gold office projects in the five main LEED-CI categories. The shift from V3 to V4 LEED-CI Gold office projects is increasing the difference between Shanghai and California in terms of the following LEED-CI categories: location and transportation, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, and materials and resources. Therefore, as compared to V3, V4 for LEED-CI Gold office projects demonstrated greater adaptability to local green building standards and environmental conditions.