Message from the Executive Director

Obviously there is some similarity between the GBI and USGBC. We’re both private sector, non-profit organizations that offer tools for assessing and rating green structures. But, while we are technically competitors, I like to think we share the common goal of a much greener built environment—which a competitive market can help to achieve.

Let me be clear. The USGBC is a trailblazing organization that has contributed mightily to the cause of green building and LEED^® is a very helpful tool.  But, just like other tools—our own Green Globes™ and the National Association of Home Builders’ (NAHB) residential guidelines included—it is an imperfect system with its own unique set of limitations. We need the power of competition to drive improvements that allow the market to mature and grow.

In the last two years alone, competition has helped to motivate several important advancements, including:

• Greater attention to and appreciation for the needs of the mainstream design and building community, as evidenced by GBI’s low-cost automated assessment tools and the USGBC’s work with ASHRAE to develop minimum design standards,
  
  
• Better use of technology, as evidenced by the Green Globes web-enabled format and the recent conversion of LEED’s paper based system to electronic files,
  
  
• Greater emphasis throughout the green building community on the power of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) in the design and evaluation of the built environment, and
  
  
• A move toward recognized consensus processes with GBI’s ongoing work to establish Green Globes as an American National Standard, the recent announcement by NAHB to pursue ANSI status for its guidelines, and the USGBC’s recent approval as an ANSI standards developer.

The bottom line is that competition is good for green building because it inspires continual improvement. It also lowers costs and gives people a broader range of options, which results in more structures that are energy-efficient, healthier and environmentally sustainable—and brings us closer to meeting our goal of a much greener built environment.