In 2013, the World-Green-Building Council (WGBC) made a study to address the influence of sustainable buildings on the international real estate market. In the study, it was revealed that in comparison to normally-built buildings, sustainable buildings
- have a higher selling value
- are rented at a higher price
- can be used more widely.
There are certification systems used to evaluate quality and sustainability of buildings. Besides already renowned systems, e.g. BREEAM and LEED, others have started gaining popularity, for instance DGNB (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Nachhaltiges Bauen) and BNB (Bewertungssystem Nachhaltiges Bauen) in Germany. In the Czech Republic, SBToolCZ (Sustainable Building Tool CZ) was introduced by the Faculty of Civil Engineering of Czech Technical University in Prague in 2010. As part of this study, created on the basis of cooperation between Hochschule Zittau/Görlitz and Czech Technical University in Prague, the BNB (partially similar to the DGNB system) and SBToolCZ systems were compared on an office building.