Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for Existing Buildings Version 4.1 (LEED-EB v4.1) Gold-Certified Office Space Projects in European and Mediterranean Countries: A Pairwise Comparative Analysis

This study aims to focus on LEED for Existing Buildings version 4.1 (LEED-EB v4.1) gold-certified office projects. Cliff's δ and exact Wilcoxon–Mann–Whitney tests were used to conduct a pairwise comparison of six countries (Sweden, Ireland, Germany, Spain, Italy, and Israel) in terms of five performance indicators (transportation, water, energy, waste, and indoor environmental quality). As a result, Sweden and Germany outperformed Italy (p = 0.002 and 0.018, respectively) in transportation performance. Ireland outperformed Italy and Israel (p = 0.015 and 0.032, respectively) and Germany outperformed Italy and Israel (p =0.003 and 0.009, respectively) in water performance. Germany outperformed Sweden, Ireland, and Israel (p <0.001, respectively) and Sweden, Spain, and Italy outperformed Israel (p <0.001, p = 0.008, and p = 0.009, respectively) in energy performance. Italy outperformed Sweden, Ireland, Germany, and Israel (0.001 < p ≤ 0.013) and Spain outperformed Germany and Israel (p = 0.015 and p <0.001, respectively) in waste performance. Israel outperformed Sweden, Germany, and Italy (p <0.001, p <0.001, and p = 0.006, respectively) and Spain, Ireland, and Italy outperformed Sweden (p <0.001, p = 0.002, and p = 0.004, respectively) in indoor environmental quality performance. Thus, the LEED certification strategy is “country-specific”.