Tools for Sustainable Building Antonella Lerario and Nicola Maiellaro National Research Council of Italy Institute for Housing and Social Infrastructures Strada Crocifisso 2/B, 70125 Bari, Italy Phone: +39 080 5481265, Fax: +39 080 5482533 E-mail: maiellaro@area.ba.cnr.it ABSTRACT: The Web represents a particularly important innovation by offering access to text -based information, searchable databases, photographs, sound recordings, and video images. For energy professionals, the Web is more than a place to post one's favourite paper-based reports; it's a venue for one-on-one as well as group communications, tracking down detailed energy data, acquiring software, running dynamic on-line calculations, and even collecting energy data from remote sites. Tools and software that incorporate environmental cost and considerations could be a valuable help to take well-informed decisions on environmental management and cost. Efforts to develop tools and methodologies have increased. Industry consultants and companies are developing new software systems and tools. Even if numerous initiatives still in experimental phase, the engagement of important government agencies (DOE - U.S. Department Of Energy, EPA - U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) in the putting to point of some of these instruments indicates concrete possibilities for their dissemination in times not excessive long. The aim of this relation is to provide information to users of existing tools and software available on the Internet. Elementary rules, guides, handbooks, guidelines, database and software are first examined; then LCA based systems, rating systems and web-based tools are focused. The web-based approach is the most promising: regardless of the computing resources they have available, users have access to powerful computational engines residing on the host server and tools are accessible regardless of platform. Finally, the Web provides immediate access to all the other relevant information that is constantly evolving on the Internet. KEYWORDS: Sustainable Building Design, Guidelines, Software, Handbooks, Web-based Tools 1. INTRODUCTION The trend towards environmental protection is gaining momentum. Social and political forces are bringing additional pressure for more environmentally-sound technological decisions. Companies and facilities also recognize that initiatives such as proper materials and waste management, efficient process and product design, energy efficiency, and recycling can be both profitable and environmentally preferable. In addition, new standards and mandates are encouraging companies to manage their environmental costs and considerations better. International standards 1 are now requiring companies to develop environmental management systems. The construction and use of buildings causes environmental damage at many levels. Thus, for example, carbon dioxide emissions from the consumption of fossil fuels contribute to the global greenhouse effect; tall buildings can produce dangerous winds in the neighborhood; and many buildings suffer from sick building syndrome. These are but three examples from a long list of environmental effects. Therefore, many building design professionals, now involved in "green building design” or "sustainable design", initiate "environmentally -responsible" design based on their own recognition of the need to reduce human impact on the environment - local and global. Very often a designer can assess environmental effects without making in-depth analysis; elementary rules can be used in most circumstances [1]: - do not think natural materials are always better (Plastic can be recycled, wood …not always); - do not forget energy consumption (focusing the attention on material selection is not always justified, because one product could use energy during its life cycle); - increase product lifetime (a designer can try to make it more durable from a technical point of view, or he can make it upgradable; more important, he can try to design the product in such a way people will feel attached to it: many products are not thrown away because they do not work, but because people get bored with them); - do not design products but services (people do not always want a product: they want solutions for their problems); - use a minimum of material (very often it is possible to reduce the amount of material by critically looking at dimensions, required strength and production techniques); 1 For example, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is creating a series of voluntary environmental management standards entitled ISO 14000. Compliance with ISO 14001 standard, the Environmental Management System (EMS) specification document, has strong potential for becoming a de-facto requirement for conducting trade.