Furthering the Goal of High Performance

There are compelling reasons to design and build sustainable structures. They reduce environmental impact, make efficient use of resources, minimize health risks, and lower costs. The only problem is that many homes and buildings designed to be sustainable do not perform as intended.

The GBI’s technical advisor, architect Jiri Skopek, calls the gap between design and reality a growing problem—for building owners, who may be uncomfortable approving designs predicated on cost savings or other values that might not be realized, and designers who may be hesitant to predict values that are in many ways beyond their control. It’s an issue being widely discussed by governments, organizations and individuals who see ensuring high performance as the next major challenge in sustainable design and construction.

Last month, for example, the GBI signed a letter developed by the Sustainable Buildings Industry Council and co-signed by organizations such as the American Institute of Architects and ASTM International, offering support as the U.S. Department of Energy seeks to develop a voluntary consensus standard for high performance buildings. Although the standard will address more than just sustainability performance (i.e. security issues), we are working collectively with the National Institute of Building Sciences to form a High Performance Buildings Council which, as a first step, will review the various individual standards and rating systems that already exist.

At the same time, our efforts to create a competitive market environment for green building tools such as the Green Globes system for commercial structures and the NAHB Model Green Home Building Guidelines are another part of the solution. We believe that having more than one credible standard for green design and construction helps to foster continuous improvement of rating systems generally. Our recent work has focused on establishing Green Globes as an American National Standard, more fully incorporating life cycle assessment (LCA) into the system, and developing climate specific adaptations to the NAHB guidelines (see Residential News). Ultimately, we also believe that improvements such as these will help to bridge the gap between sustainable design and performance.

Sincerely,

Ward Hubbell
Executive Director
Green Building Initiative