by Brianna Crandall — June 1, 2012—The Green Building Initiative, which administers the Green Globes building certification program in the United States, has formally launched its Guiding Principles Compliance Assessment Program for existing federal buildings.
According to GBI, the new rating system is the first and only third-party certification system for existing buildings designed to align 100% with the Federal Guiding Principles, and several federal agencies are already using the GBI’s Guiding Principles Compliance system to meet the requirements of Executive Order 13514. To date, nearly 200 federal buildings have been certified through this program, says GBI.
GBI notes that the certification system was developed after the initiation of a recent GSA review of green building certification systems periodically undertaken by the U.S. General Services Administration to identify a system and certification level “deem(ed) to be most likely to encourage a comprehensive and environmentally sound approach to certification of green buildings.” Thus, GSA’s review process, which evaluates which system(s) and tools could help federal agencies meet their goals for maintaining and constructing more sustainable and efficient buildings, did not include GBI’s new Guiding Principles Compliance system in its report.
The Green Building Initiative is a nonprofit organization and ANSI Standards Developer dedicated to accelerating the adoption of building practices that result in energy-efficient, healthier and environmentally sustainable buildings by promoting credible and practical green building approaches.
See also “GSA releases initial report evaluating green building certification systems” on FMLink.
