DGNB

German Sustainable Building Council (DGNB – Deutsche Gesellschaft für Nachhaltiges Bauen) in 2008 launched a rating system called German Quality Certification for Sustainable Construction.

Energy, a member of DGNB from 2010, to 2013 has the first and only DGNB Auditor in Italy and Serbia.

The German certificate for sustainable construction contains lots of themes similar to the most famous LEED, BREEAM standards but it uses European standards and puts more emphasis on the analysis of the life cycle of materials and costs.

The DGNB promotes the achievement of a balanced compendium between the ecological, economic and socio-cultural aspects of the “building” project.

Within this system, appropriate points are awarded in six specific areas:

• Ecological quality
• Economical quality
• Socio-cultural and functional quality
• Technical quality
• Quality of the process
• Location (it is considered separately, but it does not contribute to the overall classification of the building)

The total score for each category is properly weighted and finally calculated in percentages The DGNB system is based on current European norms and standards.

Calculations, LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) and LCC (Life Cycle Costing) have also been developed on the basis of EU guidelines and are gradually being implemented into European building regulations.