Green Globes^®

A Nationally Recognized Alternative to LEED

Green Globes is the first web-enabled, fully interactive green building assessment and certification program. It includes an on-site visit by a third-party assessor and comprehensive customer support. A business-friendly and affordable alternative to LEED, Green Globes provides a more effective way to advance the overall environmental performance and sustainability of commercial buildings.

Green Globes

The Green Building Initiative (GBI) is the exclusive provider of Green Globes Building Certifications in the U.S.

Developed as an evolution of the BREEAM international standard, and the first commercial building rating system to become an American National Standard (ANSI), Green Globes provides a choice of programs for green building guidance and assessment that includes:

LEED

Developed by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), the LEED green building certification program offers a suite of rating systems that recognize projects that implement strategies for better environmental and health performance.

LEED provides building owners and operators a framework for identifying and implementing practical and measurable green building design, construction, operations, and maintenance solutions.

Green Globes / LEED - A Comparison

Program Features	Green Globes	LEED
Uses ANSI Approved Consensus Development Process GBI became an ANSI-Accredited Standards Developing Organization (SDO) in 2005, becoming the only green building organization to publish an ANSI-Accredited Standard for commercial green building.	YES	NO
Nationally Accepted Program In addition to being a nationally accepted environmental rating and assessment program, Green Globes is recognized by state law in 23 states across the country from Hawaii to Florida.	YES	YES
Program Delivery Green Globes utilizes web-based software tools guiding users through a series of survey questions prior to an on-site building assessment by a third-party assessor. The Green Globes survey provides transparency throughout all stages of the rating & scoring process.	Online, interactive survey	Online submission of forms
1-on-1 Customer Support GBI Customer Support Managers are available via email and phone to help you through the assessment and certification process.	YES	NO
New Construction Assessment Green Globes New Construction (NC) aids architects, engineers, construction professionals, owners, and building operators in evaluating, quantifying, and improving the environmental friendliness and sustainability of new building and major renovation projects.	YES	YES
Existing Building Assessment Green Globes Continual Improvement of Existing Buildings (CIEB) aids building owners and property managers in the evaluation, documentation, and improvement of the environmental performance of their buildings.	YES	YES
Total Program Points Green Globes' credit pool of 1,000 points allows for more emphasis on environmental design and management while minimizing the need for expensive and impractical ‘point chasing’ to achieve the final score and rating goal.	1,000	110
Minimum Points Required for Certification To be eligible for the third-party on-site assessment, rating, and certification process, buildings must achieve a minimum 35% score during the preliminary Green Globes self-evaluation.	YES	YES
Weighted Criteria & Partial Credit (Click for more details) The flexibility of Green Globes' weighted criteria allow owners to concentrate on environmental elements that are practical and feasible for their project or building, while avoiding undue and unnecessary scoring penalties and fees.	YES	LIMITED
Program Prerequisites (Click for more details) Unlike LEED, Green Globes contains no prerequisite items, allowing for more building types to go through the environmental assessment and certification process.	NO	YES
Flexibility for Non-Applicable Criteria (Click for more details) Green Globes' use of weighted criteria allows for the inclusion of non-applicable (N/A) response options for eligible criteria. The flexibility of N/A responses results in the highest possible accuracy of the final score and rating.	YES	NO
Energy Performance (New Construction) (Click for more details) The Green Globes approach, using ENERGY STAR performance data as the basis to benchmark energy performance, makes it a more accurate predictor of energy savings.	Benchmarks against actual regional performance data	Benchmarks against hypothetical building model
Incorporates Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) (Click for more details) Incorporating LCA analysis using the easy-to-navigate EcoCalculator, Green Globes provides design teams a more accurate way to compare alternate design scenarios and building assembly choices resulting in more sustainable buildings.	YES	NO
Forest Certifications Accepted Green Globes accepts forest certifications from the following groups promoting responsible forest management: Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI), American Tree Farm System (ATFS), and the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) Sustainable Forest Management System. In comparison, LEED only accepts FSC.	4	1
Sustainability Recommendations w/Automated Report After completing the Green Globes preliminary self-evaluation, an automated report is created with additional sustainability recommendations for your building or project.	YES	NO
Certification Process The Green Globes assessment and certification process involves a third-party on-site assessment and verification of your building's characteristics and performance, providing real-life data to benchmark your building.	Preliminary online evaluation followed by third-party on-site assessment	Complete & submit assessment form, wait for results
Certification Ratings System Buildings that achieve 35% or more of the 1,000 points possible in the Green Globes rating system are eligible candidates for a certification of one, two, three, or four Green Globes.	4 Globes 3 Globes 2 Globes 1 Globe	LEED Platinum LEED Gold LEED Silver Certified LEED
Certified Personnel Training Program GBI offers two Personnel Certification Programs: Green Globes Professional (GGP) and Green Globes Assessor (GGA). GGPs may serve as consultants on Green Globes projects, facilitating the building certification process; and GGAs are contracted by GBI to perform independent third-party assessments for Green Globes building projects.	YES	YES
Time to Complete Documentation The Green Globes process has well defined documentation requirements. The availability of comprehensive customer support and the use of third-party on-site assessments further enable clients to avoid spending significant time and money collecting and submitting documentation for the LEED process.
Cost to Certify a Typical Building > 100,000 sq ft A typical Green Globes certification, not including the prerequisites required by LEED, is 1/3 to 1/2 the cost of a LEED certification.	$	$$$

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Comparing Green Globes & LEED

Green Globes is used to certify a wide variety of building types including many that could not be certified through LEED. Examples include recreational centers, transit centers, and parking garages, to name a few. It is increasingly becoming the system of choice for building owners, managers, architects and engineers who want an alternative that offers the quickest and most understandable way to achieve superior building performance.

State and Federal recognition received by the Green Globes programs:

U.S. Department of Education accepts Green Globes as a recognized system to assess schools and educational institutions.
National Institute of Health endorses Green Globes as an assessor of laboratories.
Department of Veterans Affairs, Department of Health and Human Services, and the Department of Interior all recognize certification by an ANSI Standards Developer tool which includes Green Globes.
U.S. Department of Agriculture recognizes Green Globes by name.
23 states across the country from Hawaii to Florida recognize Green Globes by state law.