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GREEN BUILDING RATING SYSTEMS: A COMPARISON OF THE LEED AND
GREEN GLOBES SYSTEMS IN THE US
Timothy M. Smith, Miriam Fischlein, Sangwon Suh, Pat Huelman.
Abstract
Worldwide, a variety of assessment programs have been developed around environmental and
energy impacts of buildings. The first environmental certification system was created in 1990 in
the UK, The Building Research Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM). In 1998 the
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®) Green Building Rating System was
introduced based quite substantially on the BREEAM system. In turn, in 2005, the Green
Building Initiative (GBI) launched Green Globes by adapting the Canadian version of BREEAM
and distributing it in the U.S. market.
The focal comparison of this report centers on LEED® and Green GlobesTM. Given their
common roots and similar goals – paraphrased as providing a guiding principle and assessment
system for more sustainably designed buildings – more similarities than differences exist. That
said, noteworthy differences in process and content still remain and will serve as the motivation
behind this analysis. The central question guiding the report remains in how far pretence and
reality of the rating systems align to prompt probable sustainability improvement. In addition,
the ease of use and the applicability of the rating systems in the market place are addressed.
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GREEN BUILDING RATING SYSTEMS: A COMPARISON OF THE LEED AND
GREEN GLOBES SYSTEMS IN THE US |
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