Sustainable Rating Systems: Alternatives to LEED®
0By Linda Reeder, AIA, LEED AP
0With the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) reporting that certification of its 1,000th building is imminent in 2007, and that it has more than 13,000 commercial and residential buildings in the pipeline,1 LEED® is clearly the principal accepted benchmark for sustainable buildings in the U.S. But it is not the only green rating system available. Green Globes™, SPiRiT, EnergyStar, and the forthcoming National Green Building Standards™ seek to ride the coattails of LEED’s success in the U.S. Also, rating systems such as BREEAM, CASBEE, and SBTool are used internationally. With buildings accounting for 39 percent of energy consumption in the U.S. in 2004,2 there is room for these alternative rating systems developed to decrease energy use and otherwise lessen the environmental impact of buildings.
0Whether USGBC’s success in promoting LEED has contributed to or coincided with the boom in interest in all things green, there is no doubt that it has increased the number of certified green buildings in the U.S. since it introduced LEED-NC (LEED for new construction) in 2000. With more ratings systems capturing the attention of building professionals and owners, the increase of certified sustainable buildings is likely to continue.
0To date, the number of projects registered for LEED certification greatly exceeds the number receiving LEED certification. By 2005, over 2,750 LEED-NC (LEED for new construction) projects were registered, but by May 2007 only 21 percent of these had received certification.3 Some projects switched from one LEED-NC version to the next version, so registration numbers are not exact.4 Part of the discrepancy between registered and certified projects may be attributed to lag times for construction, or because projects may have been canceled or delayed. Nonetheless, the 21 percent certification rate is troubling. With a breadth of rating systems available to design teams, owners, and constructors, there are more opportunities to match the best rating system to a particular project. This could potentially increase the number of certified sustainable buildings in the U.S.
U.S. Alternatives to LEED
• Green Globes™ Environmental Assessments for Buildings (www.greenglobes.com/). Developed by the Green Globes Initiative (GBI) and launched in the U.S. in 2004, the Green Globes system can be used with any size building. The ratings system is based on online questionnaires in seven categories: project management—policies and practices; site; energy; water; resources, building materials, and solid waste; emissions and effluents; and indoor environment. Assessments must be verified by a third party to receive a Green Globes rating, which range from one to four Globes based on the number of total points achieved.
0GBI says its product is flexible and easy for people of all experience levels to use. Because it is online and interactive, questionnaires can be updated for up to one year. It also “introduces users to the idea of incorporating Life Cycle Assessment into the decision making process for resource and material selection, encourages the use of EPA’s EnergyStar Target Finder for developing building energy benchmarks, and gives points for using an integrated design process, addressing acoustical comfort, minimizing opportunities for pest intrusion, and reducing emissions and effluents.”5
0As of 2007, the cost of Green Globes is $500 per self-assessment and $4,000-$5,000 for third-party verification.
• Sustainable Project Rating Tool (SPiRiT) www.cecer.army.mil/sustDesign/fSPiRiTinfo.cfm. SPiRiT was developed by the Army Corps of Engineers’ Construction Engineering Research Laboratory and was mandated for use in all military construction in 2001. It is based on LEED, with the additional categories of Facility Delivery Process, Current Mission, and Future Mission. There are no formal requirements for documentation; the project team or an independent panel reviews the completed project to determine a rating level (Platinum, Gold, Silver or Bronze).
0The Army is now transitioning from SPiRiT to LEED in 2007, and it is expected that this will soon be the case for all military construction. While the standards of LEED will need to be met for all military facilities, certification will not be required.
• ENERGY STAR
o ENERGY STAR for Commercial Buildings www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=new_bldg_design.new_bldg_design_guidance. Developed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, this program focuses on energy efficiency. The Target Finder tool for new construction (www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=new_bldg_design.bus_target_finder) is designed to help set an energy use design target and evaluate the design for energy use for buildings that are not single-family homes. Projects that perform in the top 25 percent of U.S. buildings are eligible to earn an ENERGY STAR label. Once construction is completed and the building has operated long enough to accumulate one year of utility data, the owner can go online to ENERGY STAR’s Portfolio Manager (https://www.energystar.gov/istar/pmpam/), submit the data and, if the energy performance meets performance requirements, apply for an ENERGY STAR label. To achieve this mark, commissioning and other consulting fees may be incurred.
o ENERGY STAR for Homes
0www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=new_homes.nh_features. An ENERGY STAR for Homes label applies to new or retrofitted existing homes of three-stories or less. ENERGY STAR focuses on a tight building envelope and efficient mechanical systems, lighting, and appliances. Qualified houses must exceed the 2004 International Residential Code (IRC) requirements for energy efficiency by at least 15 percent, but ENERGY STAR says qualified buildings typically exceed the IRC requirement by 20 to 30 percent.6
0ENERGY STAR for homes is largely geared toward homebuilders. A Home Energy Rating System (HERS) inspector must independently verify compliance with ENERGY STAR requirements, beginning with a plan review, followed by two inspections during construction and a final inspection. HERS raters set their own fees.
• National Green Building Standards™ www.nahbrc.org/technical/standards/greenbuilding.aspx. This standard is slated to be completed in early 2008. It will apply to single-family construction, remodeling, and multi-family construction. It is expected to use a point system and be based on the National Home Builder’s Association (NAHB)’s Model Green Homebuilding Guidelines7 (www.nahb.org/publication_details.aspx?publicationID=1994§ionID=155).
International Alternatives to LEED
• Building Research Establishment’s Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) www.breeam.org. BREEAM was developed in 1990 by the British Research Establishment and is the benchmark for assessing building performance in the U.K.8 Over 900 buildings worldwide have been assessed with BREEAM, making it the most widely used international method for evaluating buildings.9 It assesses the environmental impacts of management; health and well-being; energy; transport; water; materials and waste; land-use and ecology; and pollution, and assigns points providing ratings of pass, good, very good, or excellent. Green Globes (see above) was adapted from BREEAM in Canada before making its way to the U.S.10
• Comprehensive Assessment System for Building Environmental Efficiency (CASBEE) www.ibec.or.jp/CASBEE/english/index.htm. Developed in Japan but available in English, CASBEE is a fairly new system that is not well-known in the U.S. CASBEE assesses energy efficiency; resource efficiency; local environment; and indoor environment. For each of these four target fields, the improvements to the quality of the enclosed space (the private property) and the negative aspects of the environmental impact which go beyond the enclosed space (the public property) are evaluated.11
• SBTool (formerly GBTool) www.sbc.nrcan.gc.ca/software_and_tools/gbtool_e.asp. Developed by the International Initiative for a Sustainable Built Environment (iiSBE) through the work of over 20 countries, SBTool is intended as a “toolbox” designed to allow countries to create their own locally relevant rating systems.12 The framework includes the criteria of site selection, project planning and development; energy and resource consumption; environmental loadings; indoor environmental quality; service quality; social and economic aspects; and cultural and perceptual aspects.
0After the local iiSBE defines the scope, context, weights, and benchmarks, the design team defines project characteristics and enters performance targets. An independent assessor reviews the self-assessment, and forwards the assessment on to the local iiSBE. The iiSBE headquarters issues final certification.
0Because of the system’s inherent flexibility, it requires more technical expertise to implement than other rating systems, and has limited exposure in the U.S.13
Both internationally and nationally, LEED and these alternative rating systems may appeal to a broad range of owners and building professionals based on the varying priorities, range in fees charged, and ease of use. With residential buildings accounting for 21 percent of U.S. energy consumption in 2004, 14 the recent and forthcoming green rating systems for residential construction are welcome additions to the effort to slow climate change.
01 USGBC Press Release, “USGBC announces Alignment, Harmonization of LEED Rating System,” June 29, 2007.
02 Table 1.1.3, “Buildings Share of U.S. Primary Energy Consumption (percent),” 2006 Buildings Energy Data Book, U.S. Department of Energy.
03 Jerry Yudelson, PE, MBA, LEED AP, “Where are All the LEED Projects?” Environmental Design & Construction, July 2007, p. s18.
05 www.thegbi.org/greenglobes/faq.asp, “What’s unique about Green Globes system?”
06 www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=new_homes.nh_features, “Features of ENERGY STAR Qualified New Homes.”
07 www.nahb.org/news_details.aspx?newsID=4514
08 Krishnan Gowri, PhD, Member ASHRAE, “Green Building Rating Systems: An Overview,” ASHRAE Journal, November 2004, p. 56.
09 www.sustainableiowa.org/files/ratings.pdf, “International Rating Systems: BREEAM.”
010 “The Green Building Initiative,” Wood Source, Summer 2007, p. 6.
011 www.ibec.or.jp/CASBEE/english/methodE.htm, “The Assessment Method Employed by CASBEE.”
012 http://greenbuilding.ca/down/sbc2008/SBTool/SBTool_overview.ppt#404,6,SBTool, “SBTool.”
013 K.M. Fowler and E.M. Rauch, “Sustainable Building Rating Systems Summary,” Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, July 2006.
014 Table 1.1.3, “Buildings Share of U.S. Primary Energy Consumption (percent),” 2006 Buildings Energy Data Book, U.S. Department of Energy.
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Keywords: Building Performance, Sustainability, Sustainable design knowledge, Rating systems, LEED, Green Globes, Energy Star, White paper
14 comments
Linda Reeder, AIA, LEED AP
Published:
2007
Posted Date:
08/27/2007
Last Viewed:
07/09/2008
