Green Building Rating Systems
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)
LEED was developed by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) in 1998 with a mission to transform the way buildings and communities are designed, built and operated, enabling an environmentally and socially responsible, healthy and prosperous environment that improves the quality of life.
Green Globes System
Green Globes is a building environmental design and management tool. It delivers an online assessment protocol, rating system and guidance for green building design, operation and management. It is interactive, flexible, affordable and provides market recognition of a building’s environmental attributes through third-party verification. The Green Globes System is used in Canada and the USA. Green Globes is promoted in the USA and developed by the Green Building Initiative™.
Living Building Challenge
The Living Building Challenge is a set of standards that will make buildings more eco-friendly using renewable resources and self-treating water systems. The following are requirements that Living Buildings need in order to meet the challenge:
• Generate all of its own energy with renewable resources
• Capture and treat all of its water on site
• Use resources efficiently and for maximum beauty
BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method)
BREEAM is a leading and widely-used environmental assessment method for buildings. It is a standard for best practice in sustainable design and is used to describe a building’s environmental performance.
• Created in the UK in 1990 with two versions, one for offices and one for homes
• Rating Scale: Pass, good, very good and excellent
• Includes methods and tools for health care, retail, schools, homes, offices, prisons, multi-family residential and industrial occupancies.
