Message from the Executive Director

At the GBI, we know that a compelling reason to design and build green is cost. Energy-efficient, healthier and environmentally sustainable structures don’t have to cost substantially more to build than their non-green counterparts and yet they have the potential to deliver significant operational savings.

The problem—and the reason many building owners, facility managers and others remain skeptical about the economic benefits of building green—is that structures designed to achieve high performance objectives often fail to perform as expected.

For anyone familiar with the design and construction process, this is understandable. Design teams tend to base their objectives on ideal assumptions to achieve the highest possible “green” rating, while actual performance is whittled down by unforeseen variables such as lower than expected budgets, insufficient commissioning or even changes in occupancy that occur long after construction is complete.

The end result is a growing credibility problem for the green building movement—which is why we’re so excited about our new Green Globes module for Continual Improvement of Existing Buildings.

Used in tandem with Green Globes for New Construction or on its own as part of an organization’s portfolio management toolkit, the new module creates a practical and affordable link between the building’s design objectives and actual performance. It’s a user-friendly way to identify strengths and weaknesses, isolate problems and determine the best course of action, helping to ensure that buildings perform as well as they can over the long term.

Ward Hubbell
Executive Director