Validation of Sustainability Criteria as a Tool for the Evaluation of Habitability of Prefabricated Concrete Homes for Andean Areas

Abstract

The incorporation of sustainable projects in the construction field and the use of prefabricated products allow to provide solutions for the real estate industry due to low cost. The goal of this research is to confirm the sustainability criteria of three different certifications such as: BREEAM, LEED and VERDE. Making paired comparisons based on the AHP method relating according to priorities of importance, preference or probability of pairs of the elements, based each time on a represented criteria in the decision hierarchy. According to the calculated values and the results, the AHP process was used to evaluate certification methods. The results of weighting between the three certification methods, determined that LEED adjusts to the reality of the Andean zone of Ecuador. As this area is a fragile place and susceptible to the contamination of water, soil and ecosystems, the innovation presented in this method, when ranking and comparing the weightings, makes it have greater weight compared to the other two analyzed. In this way, it was possible to interpret and develop a table of importance of suitable criteria to be implemented in the Andean zone, having as a result that the most important criterion is water with a percentage of 40.43%.