Which Green Certification Is Best?

PORTLAND, OR - Green building certification, which can boost the value and public presence of a project, is becoming increasingly popular. But with so many certification options available, from the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program to Portland General Electric's Earth Advantage program, choosing the best one for a project can be a conundrum.

The choice varies among project types, according to Mike O'Brien, a green building specialist with the Portland Bureau of Planning and Sustainability. LEED and the Green Building Initiative's Green Globes certification are generally applied to larger commercial projects, while certifications like Earth Advantage, Built Green, and the NAHB National Green Building Standard are applied to residential projects.

"In the commercial building market in Portland, the contractors, architects and engineers are all familiar with LEED," said O'Brien. "Half of all new buildings built in Portland are LEED-certified. The choice depends on what people are trying to achieve with their building."

One should also consider the cost of certification compared with the cost savings of a more efficiently built project, according to Peter Baer of Pinnacle Architecture. He recently went through the Green Globes certification process while working on the Umatilla Morrow Head Start facility in Hermiston. Pinnacle performs many government-funded projects, which usually cost between $1 million and $8 million. With the cost to certify LEED paperwork averaging between 1 percent and 5 percent of total project cost, Baer said it made financial sense to go with Green Globes, which costs less and has less paperwork.

"Once a project costs over $10 million, then LEED starts becoming useful," Baer said. "But Green Globes is really similar to LEED. I believe 85 percent of Green Globes credits are similar to LEED, and it's a fairly simple process."

"Green Globes is trying to position themselves as an alternative for those without the resources to do LEED," O'Brien said. "It's is a simpler, online process. It's less expensive. It's not as rigorous, but it does give people a green framework to work through."

For University Place, a multifamily housing project located near Portland State University, the Housing Authority of Portland implored William Wilson Architects to seek Earth Advantage certification.

Earth Advantage uses the Energy Star program, which certifies buildings for energy efficiency as well as environmental impacts, according to O'Brien.

"I like (Earth Advantage) because the staff works with the builders to show them what to do," O'Brien said. "When you do an Energy Star home, you get free modeling. You take your house plan in and figure out a package that makes sense for you."

"The owner of a project really drives the decision process for green certification," said WWA architect Robert Brendle. "It's a combination of timeline and other factors that usually make that decision."

Baer noted that he is seeing building owners invest more money and effort toward earning green certification.

"I think green building certification is a success because people are interested in doing it," Baer said. "When the building owners want to walk their talk, that's when green building certifications become worthwhile."

Though a building may be walking its talk with an impressive certification, O'Brien said that any green certification can improve a building's reputation.

"If I said to you that a house has a LEED certification, would your first question be, 'Is it platinum or gold?' " asked O'Brien. "Most people don't know the specifics. Just having a house be certified is a big step up."

Still, Baer said he sometimes wonders whether it's best to pour money into green certification, rather than the projects themselves.

"People are spending money on these green certification services, and it might not trickle down to the energy savings of the building itself," he said. "I do understand the need for third-party certification because you have to have some way to verify it. More service companies are picking up contracts and doing these green building certifications, and there should be a way to certify these. It's just not done efficiently."

But the new certification programs keep rolling in. The National Association of Home Builders this month announced that its residential certification program, the National Green Building Standard, has been formally approved by the American National Standards Institute, offering yet another option for certification. Currently headquartered in Washington state, Built Green works with the Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish counties to certify environmentally sound residential properties, as well as residential builders. And the race is on to be the first to meet the Cascadia Green Building Council's Living Building Challenge, which requires that the building's energy and water be supplied by on-site renewable sources.

"Members of the Cascadia Green Building Council have had experience in LEED buildings," said O'Brien. "The Living Building Challenge is the ultimate set of standards. That's going to be like going to the North Pole on a dog sled."