Environmental Performance Evaluation (EPE) for construction
Author(s)
Tam, C.
W.Y. Tam, Vivian
Zeng, S.
Griffith University Author(s)
Year published
2002
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
Environmental protection has aroused much public concern in recent years. Environmental management system (EMS) has been advocated for all economic sectors. Construction, being one of the pollution generators, creating destruction to the environment, is by no means exempted from EMS. However, in carrying out EMS, the greatest obstacle is the lack of objective performance evaluation criteria. ISO 14000 is an international environmental management system (EMS), which deals with the management of the organizational environmental performance. In 1999, ISO 14031 Environmental Performance Evaluation (EPE) was introduced for assessing ...
View more >Environmental protection has aroused much public concern in recent years. Environmental management system (EMS) has been advocated for all economic sectors. Construction, being one of the pollution generators, creating destruction to the environment, is by no means exempted from EMS. However, in carrying out EMS, the greatest obstacle is the lack of objective performance evaluation criteria. ISO 14000 is an international environmental management system (EMS), which deals with the management of the organizational environmental performance. In 1999, ISO 14031 Environmental Performance Evaluation (EPE) was introduced for assessing the environmental performance related to the management and operational systems, which however is not popularly adopted in the construction industry of Hong Kong. However, there have been a number of economic sectors implementing EMS and EPE including electronic engineering, telecommunications, mineral exploration, oil and gas industries and power generation. Construction, however, is lagging behind. The reason for their non-popularity in the construction industry is because of the self-initiation nature of the scheme lacking any external stimulus and the thin profit margins achieved by most construction firms. The high investment cost of the scheme deters contractors from the implementation. However, the application of EPE offers many benefits. Therefore, this paper discusses the benefits and difficulties when implementing EPE in the construction industry. Some obstacles have been identified and suggestions to overcome them are made.
View less >
View more >Environmental protection has aroused much public concern in recent years. Environmental management system (EMS) has been advocated for all economic sectors. Construction, being one of the pollution generators, creating destruction to the environment, is by no means exempted from EMS. However, in carrying out EMS, the greatest obstacle is the lack of objective performance evaluation criteria. ISO 14000 is an international environmental management system (EMS), which deals with the management of the organizational environmental performance. In 1999, ISO 14031 Environmental Performance Evaluation (EPE) was introduced for assessing the environmental performance related to the management and operational systems, which however is not popularly adopted in the construction industry of Hong Kong. However, there have been a number of economic sectors implementing EMS and EPE including electronic engineering, telecommunications, mineral exploration, oil and gas industries and power generation. Construction, however, is lagging behind. The reason for their non-popularity in the construction industry is because of the self-initiation nature of the scheme lacking any external stimulus and the thin profit margins achieved by most construction firms. The high investment cost of the scheme deters contractors from the implementation. However, the application of EPE offers many benefits. Therefore, this paper discusses the benefits and difficulties when implementing EPE in the construction industry. Some obstacles have been identified and suggestions to overcome them are made.
View less >
Journal Title
Building Research & Information
Volume
30
Issue
5
Subject
Architecture
Building