by Pam Worner, ABC Green Council Chair Green logos are popping up on projects everywhere you look. Which ones matter, and what do they mean?
LEED™ (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) – www.usgbc.org The 800-pound gorilla in the field, LEED consists of several programs to certify new commercial construction, existing commercial buildings, schools, etc. The program is administered by the U.S. Green Building Council, a nonprofit organization whose local chapter is called the Cascadia Region Green Building Council (www.cascadiagbc.org). Contrary to popular wisdom, you don’t have to have a LEED-Accredited Professional on your project in order to submit it for LEED certification, but you do have to be a USBC member.
Green Globes – www.greenglobes.comGreen Globes is a certification program aimed at giving LEED a run for its money with commercial buildings, both new and existing. Popular in Canada, it is administered in the U.S. by the nonprofi t Green Building Initiative (
www.thegbi.org), based in our neighboring city of Portland. Green Globes certification is designed to be simpler and less expensive than LEED, putting it within the reach of smaller commercial projects.
Built Green™ - www.builtgreenwashington.org There are about a dozen Built Green programs in Washington State, each operated by a local homebuilder association. The Master Builders Association of King & Snohomish Counties’ programs is by far the largest, with more than 13,000 homes certified since 2000. Each association’s program is based on a checklist, but that’s where the similarities end: each program’s checklist and requirements are different, as are the projects they certify: some do remodels and multi-family projects, some only do new single-family homes.
LEED™ for Homes –www.usgbc.org
The folks who brought you LEED now have a residential certification program, but it’s proving slow to catch on. Less than a dozen homes have been certified so far in Washington State. The program’s documentation and testing requirements make it a fairly expensive option for most homebuilders. It’s run completely separately from the other LEED programs.
ENERGY STAR Homes™ - www.northwestenergystar.com
ENERGY STAR Homes use at least 15% less energy than the same home built to code – a nice advantage in today’s market. The Northwest program is separate from the rest of the country to allow for our tougher energy codes (a code home in Washington would already be an ENERGY STAR Home in most states). The program is relatively inexpensive and supported by lots of juicy utility rebates and other incentives which can offset much of the cost.
NAHB Green™ - www.nahbgreen.org
The number and diversity of local certification programs like Built Green (there are roughly 80 throughout the country) have been driving the big national homebuilders crazy. That drove the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) to develop a national program based on its long-standing Green Building Guidelines. Officially launched in spring of this year, NAHB Green offers an easy-to-use online scoring tool with links to resources and is intended to be offered through the local homebuilder associations. The program has applied for ANSI recognition as the National Green Building Standard – when that comes through, watch for it to really take off. In the meantime, the local Built Green programs are likely to continue their hold on the residential market.
In addition to chairing ABC’s Green Council, Pam is “Top Dog” of Green Dog Enterprises, Inc., a consulting firm providing third-party project verification and green marketing services.