Why You Will Love It!

The Green Globes system is a revolutionary green management tool that includes an assessment protocol, rating system and guide for integrating environmentally friendly design into commercial buildings. Once complete, it also facilitates recognition of the project through third-party review and assessment.

Flexible
Designed for use on building projects of any size, the Green Globes system is suitable for everything from large and small offices and multi-family structures, to institutional buildings such as schools, universities and libraries. The Green Globes suite of tools is used to integrate sustainability goals into new construction, renovations, and entire building portfolios.

Comparable
Owners and developers with multiple properties can use Green Globes to assess and compare the buildings in their portfolio. As more and more buildings are Green Globes rated, point scores will also be aggregated in an anonymous database, enabling users to analyze how their design performs in relation both to the median and to buildings that are similar in terms of size, type and region.

Adaptable
Because the assessment is completed online, inputs can be changed for up to a year with an option to extend. This allows users to keep their assessment up-to-date as the building parameters change through the project delivery stages.

Secure
With Green Globes self-assessment, project confidentiality and security are assured. Data that you provide online is confidential. No other users will have access to your energy consumption figures or to your benchmark results. This information will be accessible to you and you alone. Data is collected anonymously and used for statistical and benchmarking purposes, but no information that could identify your company or building will be collected or used for this analysis.

Supports Integrated Design
Green Globes facilitates the integrated design process, encouraging multi-disciplinary collaboration from the earliest stages of a project. The system guides design team members by reminding them of next steps and introducing the elements of sustainability in a logical sequence.

Facilitates Planning
Self-assessment occurs in two phases: during the schematic design stage (which corresponds with site plan approval), and during the construction documents stage (which typically corresponds with building permit approval). This allows design teams, clients and municipal authorities to review a detailed report that provides the percentage of points likely to be achieved (out of 1000), highlights of the project’s environmental attributes, and suggestions for improvements.

Third-party Review and Assessment
GBI oversees a network of Green Globes-trained regional assessors comprised primarily of licensed architects and engineers with significant experience in building sciences and sustainability issues. No building project can be promoted as having achieved a rating of one, two, three, or four Green Globes until it has passed a rigorous two-stage, third-party assessment.

Stage I can be initiated by the design team as soon as the Construction Documents questionnaire is finalized. The completed questionnaire is compared to documentation generated throughout the design process. Once complete, the design team will receive a Certificate of Achievement. However, a final rating cannot be achieved until after a Stage II assessment, which occurs post-construction. Stage II includes a site inspection by the third-party assessor and can be initiated as soon as construction is complete.