'Green building in Malaysia'
The Standards and Industrial Research Institute of Malaysia (SIRIM) promotes green building techniques. Malaysian architect Ken Yeang is a prominent voice in the area of ecological design.[1] Driven by environmental needs, Green Building Index (GBI) was jointly founded and developed by Pertubuhan Akitek Malaysia (PAM) and the Association of Consulting Engineers Malaysia (ACEM) in 2009. GBI (M) is a profession driven initiative to lead the property industry towards becoming more environment-friendly. From its inception GBI has received the full support of Malaysia’s building and property players. It is intended to promote sustainability in the built environment and raise awareness among Developers, Architects, Engineers, Planners, Designers, Contractors and the Public about environmental issues. Malaysia’s Green Building Index or GBI(M) will be the only rating tool for the tropical zones other than Singapore Government’s GREENMARK. GBI(M) parameters are within the tropical climatic conditions. Its scoring priorities are very much customized for the current state of Malaysia where a lot of priority is given to energy and water efficiency scores. GBI(M) differs markedly from Singapore's GREENMARK thus understandably GBI(M)rating priorities should be like-wise customized to suit – both to Malaysian climate and also the current state of the country’s development and existing resources.