Scoring green:
A look at green programs to achieve high-performance buildings
Marcy Marro,
Posted
03/01/2009
There are a number of reasons to build green today. From energy
efficiency to decreased operating costs, from an increase in
building value to having a smaller carbon footprint, from meeting
building codes and standards to receiving government rebates, these
are just some of the practical motivations behind this growing
trend in building. Helping to facilitate this trend is the advent
of green programs that use a rating system, enabling buildings and
products to qualify for certification. These certification
processes are varied and offer several options, but pursuing
certification goes a long way to stand out in a competitive
market.
The American Institute of Architects, Washington, D.C., recently
took a closer look at the rating systems that have had the most
market penetration in North America, including LEED and Green
Globes. According to Jessyca Henderson, AIA, resource architect for
AIA: "Programs that offer guidelines to designers that address
energy performance and other vital characteristics of sustainable
design are a good thing-we encourage the use of checklists, rating
systems and other proprietary systems if they aid in the production
of high-performance buildings. Rating systems, however, are not a
catchall for sustainable design or a guarantee for energy
performance. They are a tool, and like any tool, when used
appropriately, [they] can help create beautiful results. Taking a
holistic approach to design, an integrated approach, whether or not
the use of a green building rating system occurs, is a vital part
of delivering high-performance buildings."
Here is a look at some of the green programs that are available
today.
BOMA Energy Efficiency Program
What Is It?
The Washington, D.C.-based Building Owners and Managers
Association International Foundation in partnership with the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency Energy Star program developed the
BOMA Energy Efficiency Program, an innovative operational
excellence program set up to teach property owners, managers and
operators how to reduce energy consumption and costs with proven
no- and low-cost strategies for optimizing equipment, people and
practices.
BEEP is a six-course series that provides the information,
strategies, technologies, how-to guides and resources needed to
reduce energy and costs. Each seminar is offered via two-hour
Web-assisted audio seminars. Since its introduction in 2006, more
than 15,000 industry professionals have been trained through BEEP.
BOMA International was awarded the Energy Star Partner of the Year
in 2007 and 2008 for outstanding contributions to reducing
greenhouse gas emissions by promoting energy management in
commercial buildings through BEEP.
• Help professionals save energy costs and lower
overall occupancy costs in buildings.
• Make buildings more competitive, profitable
and valuable.
• Improve tenant comfort and satisfaction with
better building temperature control.
• Lower absenteeism and increase tenants'
productivity, resulting in cost savings for tenants.
• Extend equipment life by improving operations
and maintenance of building systems, and ensure equipment is
operating as designed.
• Extend the value of financial returns beyond
energy savings to improve NOI, asset value and tenant
comfort.
• Implement low-risk, low-cost strategies to
improve energy efficiency with high returns.
• Positively impact the community and planet by
helping to reduce the industry's role in global warming.
• Position companies and the industry as leaders
and solution providers to owners and tenants seeking environmental
and operational excellence.
Who Is It For?
BEEP is designed for property owners, building and property
managers, engineers, energy professionals, architects and others
responsible for energy efficiency to increase their knowledge and
develop expertise in reducing energy consumption and costs.
Seminars
Seminars are offered via webinar, with support materials
delivered over the Internet in real time. Seminar times are 2 to 4
p.m., EST. Each seminar costs $125/site for BOMA members and
$175/site for non-members. A site is defined as an Internet
connection with audio speaker capacity.
The topics of the six BEEP seminars are:
1. Introduction to energy performance
2. How to benchmark energy performance
3. Energy efficient audit concepts andeconomic
benefits
4. No- and low-cost operational adjustments to
improve energy performance
5. Valuing energy enhancement projects and
financial returns
6. Building an energy performance awareness
program
www.boma.org/BEEP
Cradle to Cradle
What Is It?
Charlottesville, Va.-based McDonough Braungart Design
Chemistry's Cradle to Cradle certification provides a company with
a way to tangibly and credibly measure achievement in
environmentally intelligent design while helping customers purchase
and specify products that pursue a broader definition of
quality.
Cradle to Cradle certification focuses on the characteristics of
sustainable materials, products and systems, resulting in a process
that places a major emphasis on the human and ecological health
impacts of a product's ingredients, as well as the ability of that
product to be truly recycled or safely composted.
The Cradle to Cradle mark signifies that a company has chosen the
chemicals, materials and processes for health and perpetual
recyclability, allowing customers to purchase products that meet
the highest international regulatory and industry standards.
Certification Criteria
Certification criteria that measure the extent of a product's
achievement and possible areas for improvement include:
• Materials
• Material reutilization/design for
environment
• Energy
• Water
• Social responsibility
How Is It Scored?
Cradle to Cradle certification is a four-tiered approach
consisting of Basic, Silver, Gold and Platinum levels that reflect
continuing improvement along the cradle-to-cradle trajectory.
If a candidate product achieves the necessary criteria, it is
certified as a Silver, Gold or Platinum product or as a
Technical/Biological Nutrient (for homogeneous materials or less
complex products), and it can be branded as Cradle to Cradle.
CENTRIA, Moon Township, Pa., currently has 11 Cradle to Cradle
certified products. According to Mark Thimons, senior product
research associate for CENTRIA, they "felt that the Cradle to
Cradle certification provided an independent assessment of our
products, and we were especially impressed by the continuous
improvement aspect of the program. This process identified a few
areas where we could employ more environmentally friendly
ingredients or manufacturing methods, and we have implemented
changes to our products and processes as a direct result of the
certification process."
Thimons continued: "Cradle to Cradle is able to assess any type
of product, and it evaluates every single ingredient in a product,
even those at very low overall concentrations. The Cradle to Cradle
certification process is just one part of CENTRIA's overall
corporate sustainability mission. Cradle to Cradle is now an
integral part of any product development project, as C2C-based
assessments are completed very early in the process of developing a
potential new CENTRIA product."
www.c2ccertified.com
Energy Star
What Is It?
"Energy Star for commercial buildings was launched by the EPA in
1992 to provide building owners with strategic energy management
plans designed to benefit both the environment and the owner's
bottom line," said Karen Butler, manager of commercial building
design with Energy Star. "Energy Star is designed to measure a
building's energy performance, create practical operating and
design (energy use) benchmarks/goals, monitor performance and also
reward energy efficiency."
Building Categories
There are 11 building types eligible to receive the Energy Star
rating. They are:
• Bank/financial institutions
• Courthouses
• Hospitals (acute care and children's)
• Hotels and motels
• K-12 schools
• Medical offices
• Offices
• Residence halls/dormitories
• Retail stores
• Supermarkets
• Warehouses (refrigerated and
non-refrigerated)
How Are the Buildings Rated?
For each of the building types, the EPA provides an energy
performance rating using a scale of one to 100. The energy
performance rating system is based on source energy to account for
greenhouse gas emissions associated with the energy use. It also
accounts for the impact of weather/climate variations, as well as
key physical and operating characteristics of each building.
Buildings rated 75 or greater may qualify for Energy Star for the
building and design projects.
According to Butler, the building or design rating is determined
by using statistically representative models to compare a specified
building's energy use against similar buildings from a national
survey conducted by the U.S. Department of Energy's Energy
Information Administration. The national survey, known as the
Commercial Building Energy Consumption Survey, is conducted every
four years and gathers data about building characteristics and
energy use from thousands of buildings across the United
States.
The Target Finder tool is for building design, while the Portfolio
Manager tool is for existing buildings.
www.energystar.gov/commercialbuildingdesign
Green Globes U.S.
What Is It?
Green Globes is a building environmental design and management
tool that delivers an online assessment protocol, rating system and
guidance for green building design, operation and management.
Green Globes U.S. was adapted from the Green Globes Canada rating
system in 2004 and is funded by the Green Building Initiative,
Portland, Ore. According to GBI's director of outreach, Mark
Rossolo, the GBI has committed to taking Green Globes through the
process to establish this tool as the first, and only, American
National Standard as designated by the American National Standards
Institute, Washington, D.C., ensuring that Green Globes is
maintained through a true consensus-based process and the Green
Globes ANSI Technical Committee operates autonomously from the GBI
staff, board of directors and funders. The technical committee, per
ANSI guidelines, is made up of equal parts users, producers and
interested third parties. Once the newest set of comments are
reviewed, Green Globes will be released as the first, and only,
official ANS for commercial green building.
"The goal of Green Globes is to streamline the green building
certification process and empower builders and architects to build
as sustainable a building as possible without spending an
exorbitant amount of staff time or hiring outside consultants,"
Rossolo said.
Green Globes is suitable for large and small buildings,
including offices; multifamily structures; and institutional
buildings, such as schools, universities and libraries. It is used
by large developers and property management companies.
Categories
• Project management
• Site
• Energy
• Water
• Indoor environment
• Resources
• Emissions
How Is It Scored?
Data submitted online must be verified by a qualified third
party. Using existing supporting documents and a walk-through
survey, the verifier reviews the submission and confirms the
percentage of points. Projects that have achieved over 35 percent
of the 1,000 available points can earn a rating of one to four
Green Globes.
• One Green Globe: 35-54 percent
• Two Green Globes: 55-69 percent
• Three Green Globes: 70-84 percent
• Four Green Globes: 85-100 percent
www.greenglobes.com, www.thegbi.org
LEED
What Is It?
LEED was launched in the United States in 2000 as a
consensus-based building rating system based on the use of existing
building technology. The U.S. Green Building Council, Washington,
D.C., developed the LEED program. The USGBC is accredited as an
official Standards Developing Organization by ANSI.
Versions exist for new construction, homes, commercial
interiors, core and shell, schools and existing buildings. LEED
systems for neighborhood development, retail and health care are
currently in pilot testing.
LEED 2009, the next evolution of the green building certification
system for commercial buildings, will be launched this spring.
According to Ashley Katz, manager of communications at the USGBC,
LEED 2009 includes a series of major technical advancements focused
on improving energy efficiency, reducing carbon emissions, and
addressing other environmental and human health outcomes.
Katz added that LEED 2009 will also incorporate regional
credits, which are extra points that have been identified as
priorities within a project's given environmental zone. One of the
most significant changes to LEED will be a scientifically grounded
reweighting of credits, changing allocation of points among LEED
credits to reflect climate change and energy efficiency as urgent
priorities.
Categories
• Sustainable sites
• Water efficiency
• Energy and atmosphere
• Materials and resources
• Indoor environmental quality
• Innovation and design process
How Is It Scored?
There are four levels of LEED certification-Certified, Silver,
Gold and Platinum. Each category includes prerequisites for any
certification level to be achieved and a flexible series of
opportunities to achieve credit points corresponding to the
different levels of accomplishment, determined by the number of
points obtained through credit interpretation by third-party
review. The launch of LEED 2009 will change the current point
distribution to a 100-point scale.
www.usgbc.org/leed
NAHB Green Building Standard
What Is It?
Based on the three-year-old Washington, D.C.-based National
Association of Home Builders' Model Green Home Building Guidelines
and in collaboration with the International Code Council, the new
Green Building Standard maintains the flexibility of green building
practices while providing a common national benchmark for builders,
remodelers and developers. The standard defines green building for
single and multifamily homes, residential remodeling projects and
site development projects while allowing for the flexibility
required for regionally appropriate best green practices. Recently
approved by ANSI, the National Green Building Standard is the first
residential green building rating system to be approved, making it
the benchmark for green homes.
As part of the process required by ANSI, NAHB and the ICC
assembled a fully inclusive and representative consensus committee
composed of a broad spectrum of builders, architects, product
manufacturers, regulators and environmental experts that
deliberated the content of the standard for more than a year. The
NAHB Green Building Standard is the first and only green building
standard that is consistent and coordinated with the International
Residential Code.
"NAHB's decision to transform the existing guidelines into a
standard, exposing its work to the rigors of the ANSI consensus
process and peer review, is yet another testament to the firm
commitment the association has taken to support inclusive green
building," said Michael Luzier, president of the NAHB Research
Center, Upper Marlboro, Md. The NAHB Research Center, an ANSI
Accredited Standards Developer, administered the development of the
standard and also provides certification for NAHBGreen
projects.
Categories
• Resource efficiency
• Energy efficiency
• Water efficiency
• Lot design, preparation and development
• Indoor environmental quality
• Operation, maintenance and homeowner
education
How Is It Scored?
The four levels-Bronze, Silver, Gold and Emerald-provide
builders a means to achieve basic, entry-level green building or
the highest level of sustainable green building that incorporates
energy savings of 60 percent or higher. The standard can be used by
a builder for individual projects or as the basis for a local
community or state green building program.
The interactive Green Scoring Tool allows scoring a building to
the standard and offers continual feedback, informing users at
every step where they stand and what needs to be done to make a
green home.
www.nahbgreen.org
SBTool
What Is It?
Formerly known as GBTool, SBTool is designed to assess the
environmental and sustainability performance of buildings. SBTool
is the software implementation of the Green Building Challenge
assessment method that has been under development since 1996 by a
group of more than a dozen teams. The GBC process was launched by
Natural Resources Canada, but responsibility was handed over to the
International Initiative for a Sustainable Built Environment, or
iiSBE, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, in 2002.
SBTool is a generic framework for rating the sustainable
performance of buildings and projects. The system covers a wide
range of sustainable building issues, not just green building
concerns, and the scope of the system can be modified to be as
narrow or as broad as desired, ranging from six to 125
criteria.
SBTool is an international benchmarking tool that is designed to
allow countries to design their own locally relevant rating systems
while including considerations of regional conditions and
values.
Categories
• Site selection, project planning and
development
• Energy and resource consumption
• Environmental loadings
• Indoor environmental quality
• Service quality
• Social and economic aspects
• Cultural and perceptual aspects
How Is It Scored?
The SBTool system is a rating framework or toolbox that only
becomes a rating tool after a third party calibrates it for the
countries region by defining scope and setting weights, context and
performance benchmarks. It can be used for certification if
calibrated by a third party, or it can be used by clients with
large portfolios to identify their in-house performance
requirements.
The system contains three levels of parameters-issues,
categories and criteria. Criteria are scored according to the
following scale:
• -1 = Deficient
• 0 = Minimum acceptable performance
• +3 = Good practice
• +5 = Best practice
Criteria scores are weights, category scores are the total of
weighted criteria scores, and issue scores are the total of
weighted category scores.
To make the system relevant for local conditions, benchmarks must
be established for the generic building type at the 0, +3 and +5
performance levels for all active criteria. There are two forms of
benchmarks: data-oriented benchmarks that describe performance
parameters that can be described in numbers and text-oriented that
attempt to describe various levels of performance in subjective
areas. Benchmarks can be established through a review of
regulations, analysis of local building performance data or by
consensus within small expert groups.
www.iisbe.org