Essay #2: Sustainability Rating Systems Prepared by
Nick Tanner Arch 6710 Construction Management Kyle Taft University of Utah College of Architecture and Planning Salt Lake City, Utah 2011 (Submitted 18 July 2011)
Sustainability Rating Systems
Sustainability is more than recycling, it is about maintaining, and creating an endur‐
ing built environment that lasts for many generations. Sustainability is a triple bottom line involving the Planet, People, and Prosperity. (Kyrgiel, 11) In the design and construction in‐ dustries, there are multiple methods of measuring the sustainable characteristics of a build‐ ing. With the extensive variety of green rating systems, and their rapidly changing require‐ ments, it is difficult to provide an adequate analysis of each within the context of this paper. Multiple resources provide in‐depth and extensive comparisons of numerous ratings sys‐ tems utilizing charts and comparison tables. Some of these resources can be found in the bibliography at the end of this essay and any person seeking a thorough analysis should consult this list. Further, since many of the resources in this paper have overlapping infor‐ mation, only a bibliography is the citation. Therefore, this essay will provide an overview of the more popular systems in the United States, as well as highlighting other systems around the world.
Perhaps the most familiar system is Energy Star. The US Environmental Protection
Agency and the US Department of Energy created this system in 1995. Initially this system was a product classification system, but it has evolved into an evaluation of both residential and commercial structures. Buildings that achieve a rating in the top 25% for similar types receive this award. This 0‐100 point system previously assessed energy use exclusively, but now includes indoor air quality. Energy Star has only one level of certification that requires renewal each year. Energy Star is also a prerequisite for LEED Certification. The Energy Star system has no registration or certification fees and the administrative costs are minim‐ al. Additionally, there is no fee to receive an Energy Star professional designation. Con‐ struction and equipment costs will vary depending on the features included in a design, so it should not be an evaluation factor.
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The American Lung Association also has an award similar to Energy Star called Health
House. This rating focuses on Indoor Air Quality through proper ventilation, air filtration, moisture control, healthy humidity levels, and reducing VOCs.
In the water use category, the Environmental Protection Agency’s Water Sense, is an
award for indoor and outdoor water efficiency in a new home. It is a label for products and homes.
The U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design
(LEED), considers multiple green attributes in evaluating a how a building is designed, built, operated, and maintained. This bureaucratic system, which also began development and use in the late 1990’s, is widely known by design professionals and has been adopted and made mandatory by at least 18 states when new public building are built. There are seven types of rating systems for LEED: (1) Neighborhood Development, (2) Homes, (3) Schools, (4) Core & Shell, (5) New Construction, (6) Commercial Interiors, and (7) Existing Buildings. Collectively within these types, there are eleven different categories that rate performance: (1) Sustainable Sites, (2) Water Efficiency, (3) Energy and Atmosphere, (4) Materials and Re‐ sources, (5) Indoor Environmental Quality, (6) Innovation in Design/Innovation in Opera‐ tions, (7) Location and Linkages, (8) Awareness & Education, (9) Smart Location and Linkage, (10) Neighborhood Pattern and Design, (10) Green Infrastructure and Buildings. LEED is a 110‐point system and has four levels of Certification, (1) Certified 40‐49points, (2) Silver 50‐ 59 points, (3) Gold 60‐79 points, (4) Platinum 80‐110 points. One requirement of a LEED certified project is to have team members that have a LEED professional accreditation. There are currently six credentials and a seventh in the works. This is a three‐tier system with the first step a LEED Green Associate. The second Tier is LEED Accredited Professional with specialty. The third tier is a LEED Fellow. LEED is a very expensive program with fees for registering the project ($900‐$1,200), assessment and certification ($2,250‐27,500), and accreditation of the professional. These fees vary depending on membership in USGBC, and 2
the size of the project. Again, final costs are difficult to determine because team members may need to spend ample time researching various materials and methods that comply with the LEED system. This system requires lots of documentation and paperwork.
One program that takes a more stringent approach than the LEED Platinum is the
Living Building Challenge administered by the International Living Building Institute. This program, established in 2009, raises the bar further, by evaluating performance one year after building completion. There are sixteen prerequisite in six areas: (1) Site Design, (2) Energy, (3) Materials, (4) Water, (5) Indoor Environmental Quality, (6) Beauty and Inspira‐ tion.
Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREAM) has
five ratings: (1) Pass, (2) Good, (3) Very Good, (4) Excellent, (5) Outstanding. There are eight areas of analysis: (1) Management, (2) Health and Well‐Being, (3) Energy, (4) Transport, (5) Water, (6) Material and Waste, (7) Land Use and Ecology, (8) Pollution.
Green Globes came to the United States in 2004 based on the BREEAM in the U.K. &
Canada. In Green Globes there are seven assessment areas: (1) Site, (2) Water,(3) Energy, (4) Emissions, Effluents and Other Impacts, (5) Resources, (6) Indoor Environment, (7) Project Management. This system is a percentage of applicable points ranking with four le‐ vels of Ratings: 1 Globe 36%‐55%, 2 Globes 56%‐70%, 3 Globes 71%‐85%, 4 Globes 86%+. This program costs are based on the square footage of a building and range from $3,500‐ $7,500 for Design Assessment and $3,500‐$7,500 for Construction Assessment. The Green Building Initiative (GBI) administers the Green Globes program and in 2009, a professional Designation was set up. Green Globes is also integrating Live Cycle Assessment (LCA) of a building into its methodology.
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In 2009 the National Green Building Standard (NGBS) grew out of an earlier program
by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB). Residentially, this program is compa‐ rable to LEED for Homes. It is up to 1,000‐point system with four Levels of Certification: (1) Bronze 222 points, (2) Silver 406 points, (3) Gold 558 points, (4) Emerald 697 points. The seven green building categories include: (1) Lot Design, Preparation and Development, (2) Resource Efficiency, (3) Energy Efficiency, (4) Water Efficiency, (5) Indoor Environmental Quality, (6) Operation, Maintenance, and Building Owner Education, (7) Additional Points from any Category. Fees associated with the NGBS are lower than LEED with volume dis‐ counts for sets of ten or 500+ homes constructed in a year.
The American Institute of Architects Committee on the Environment issues a top ten
green building list each year. The metrics of this evaluation focus on: Design and Innovation, Regional/Community Design, Land Use and Site Ecology, Bioclimatic Design, Light and Air, Water Cycle, Energy Flows and Energy Future, Materials and Construction, Long Life, Loose Fit, Collective Wisdom and Feedback Loops. Since 1997, the number of entries each year has grown from 15 to over 100 in 2007.
The SBTool, formerly known as the GBTool, began in 1998 as a Canadian assessment
tool that has 116 parameter in seven categories: (1) Site Selection, Project Planning, and Development, (2) Energy and Resource Consumption, (3) Environmental Loadings, (4) In‐ door Environmental Quality, (5) Service Quality, (6) Social and Economic Aspects, (7) Cultur‐ al and Perceptual Aspects.
Other rating systems focus on a particular market such as The Collaborative for High
Performance Schools (CHPS). This program began in California in 2009 and has six catego‐ ries in a 85 point rating system: (1) Site, (2) Water, (3) Energy, (4) Materials, (5) Indoor Envi‐ ronmental Quality, (6) District Resolutions. 4
Throughout the world, there are other rating systems such as Australia – Green Star,
Germany – German Sustainable Building Certification, Japan – Comprehensive Assessment System for Building Environment Efficiency (CASBEE), Canada – Green Globes and R‐2000.
Multiple building product labels may or may not be truly sustainable. Some of these
include GreenSpec Listed, Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), Rate It Green, Greenguard, Global Ecolabelling Network including Environmental Choice and Green Seal. Other man‐ agement standards include Natural Step, ISO 14000 Series Standards, ASTM Standards E 2114 & E 2129, ASHRAE, IPMVP, and ICC International Energy Conservation Code.
Integrating sustainable practices into design and construction can be facilitated with
Building Information Modeling and other software such as IES, Ecotect, Green Building Stu‐ dio, eQUEST, EnergyPlus, Daysim, Radiance, and Climate Consultant.
The ideal system would be to follow the collective guidelines of these existing sys‐
tems, but peruse it without seeking an award. Further, the ideal system should be inexpen‐ sive or at best, free. It should also be easy to use and informative to the community.
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Bibliography * Fowler, K.M., Rauch, E.M. Sustainable Building Rating Systems. PNNL‐15858.pdf http://www.usgbc.org/Showfile.aspx?DocumentID=1915. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, US Department of Energy. July 2006. Green Globe. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Globe. Accessed 14 July 2011. Green Globes. http://www.greenglobes.com/about.asp. Accessed 14 July 2011. * Green Home Building Rating System—A Sample Comparison. NAHB Research Center. http://www.nahbgreen.org/Content/pdf/GreenHomeRatingComparison.pdf. Upper Marlboro, MD. March 2008. Kyrgiel, Eddy., Nies, Bradley. Green BIM: Successful Sustainable Design with Building Information Modeling. Wiley Publishing, Inc. Indianapolis, Indiana. 2008. ISBN 978‐0‐470‐ 23960‐5 LEED. http://www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CMSPageID=51. Accessed 14 July 2011. Parsons, Peter. LEED vs Green Globes. http://www.nlcpr.com/greenglobe.php. Accessed 14 July 2011. * Reeder, Linda. Green BIM: Successful Sustainable Design with Building Information Modeling. Wiley Publishing, Inc. Hoboken, NJ. 2010. ISBN 978‐0‐470‐40194‐1 * RSMeans. Green Building: Project Planning & Cost Estimating. Wiley Publishing, Inc. Hoboken, NJ. 2011. ISBN 978‐0‐876‐29261‐7 * Smith, Timothy, Dr.. Green Building Rating Systems: A Comparison of the LEED and Green Globes Systems in the US. http://www.nlcpr.com/Green_Building_Rating_UofM.pdf. University of Minisota. September 2006.
US Green Building Council. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S._Green_Building_Council. Accessed 14 July 2011. USGBC LEED Green Associate Study Guide. US Green Building Council. Washington, DC. 2009. ISBN 978‐1‐932444‐23‐0