Available now is an update to the Green Globes for New Construction program. Based on an ANSI standard: ANSI/GBI 01-2010: Green Building Assessment Protocol for Commercial Buildings, the program “was developed using an ANSI approved consensus process involving stakeholders from across the building sustainability industry.”

“Energy performance assessment has been enhanced by allowing users to choose between four paths. Three of these are known to the building industry – ENERGY STAR®, ASHRAE Building Performance Method, and ASHRAE Building Energy Quotient. The fourth, developed within the ANSI process, is an operational energy approach that uses carbon dioxide equivalency (CO2e) as the basis for its calculations and captures energy performance through the entire cycle of energy consumption from source production and generation to building consumption.

The Materials & Resources section introduces a more sustainable and innovative methodology for the selection and specification of products based upon multiple attributes. This new approach focuses on full life cycle assessment, multi-attribute certifications, and third-party certified Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs)….”

The availability of this ANSI-aligned green building rating system offers a user-friendly, affordable and timely alternative to LEED, being criticized because it was not developed with consensus-based processes in conformance with ANSI or ISO.

Visit www.thegbi.org to learn more about the updated program.