8 Green Building Certifications You Should Consider

Using sustainable design and building practices in your residential and commercial buildings brings multiple benefits. Your operating costs will be lower, and you can recuperate more of your building costs with rents. LEED-certified buildings often draw rents that are 20% higher than their non-green counterparts. Touting your commitment to sustainability through green building certification is a great way to attract new tenants. Explore the most common green certifications and which one is right for you. 

What is a Green Building Certification? 

Green building certifications mean your building has passed a series of checks that prove it meets set standards for environmental impact, human health, and others. Each certification program has its own set of standards and various levels depending on how many boxes your building checks. 

Getting a green building certification often starts at the design level. You and your team determine which certification level you want, register your project with your chosen agency, and design to the standards you wish to achieve. 

Top 8 Green Building Certifications

You have multiple sustainable building certification options available depending on your building type and your certification goals. Here, we cover the top eight.  Use a resource such as Green Business Certification Inc. (GCBI) to decide which is right for you. 

1. LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) 

LEED was developed by the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) in the late 1990s. It offers four certification levels for different categories including interior spaces, residential property, commercial buildings, and operations and maintenance. 

You qualify for various LEED certification levels through credits awarded in categories such as energy, sustainable sites, materials, regional impacts, and others. LEED building design and construction certifications don’t expire, but you should consider recertifying as the guidelines change.

Download our eBook: The Role of IAQ in LEED, WELL, and Fitwell Certifications

2. Fitwel Standard

Fitwel focuses more on how your building affects human health than environmental quality. Many green design standards also positively impact human health, including HVAC solutions that impact indoor air quality or utilizing natural light by placing multiple windows throughout the building. 

Fitwel offers a variety of scorecards based on your building or site. For example, the scorecard for senior housing is different than the one for a commercial or industrial site. 

To achieve Fitwel certification, you register your project. You assess how your site measures up to the standards based on your chosen scorecard and submit your assessment with required documents. Fitwel’s team of experts assesses your application and certifies you or lets you know why you didn’t pass with suggestions on what to improve. 

3. WELL Building Standard

The WELL Building Standard is another green building certification program made to assess how your building makes people healthier, similar to UL verification. It was developed by the International WELL Building Institute and measures your building through a set of 11 criteria. 

To understand how your building makes people healthier, WELL assesses indoor air and water quality, noise and sound quality, lighting, and proximity to healthy food and activities. Like other programs on this list, WELL offers different certification tiers depending on your project and your goals. There are differences between Fitwel and WELL, so get acquainted with both before applying.

Since many WELL Building criteria overlap with LEED, IBWI and the USGBC have created a streamlined process you can use to apply for both certifications. 

4. BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method)

BREEAM is an international standard developed in the United Kingdom to assess sustainable buildings. There are differences between BREEAM and LEED. They are similar, but the certification process is more rigorous. The program involves an appraiser who comes to your site to compare with your application. 

You must meet mandatory criteria to apply for BREEAM certification, and its standards are considered stricter than LEED standards, partially because the standards were developed to comply with legislation in the UK.

5. Energy Star

If you’ve shopped for appliances for your home or building, you’re probably familiar with Energy Star. You can achieve this certification by proving your building meets standards set by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). 

To apply, you just register for an account with Energy Star and follow the application instructions. Have your application verified and stamped by a licensed professional engineer or registered architect and send it back. 

6. NGBS (National Green Building Standard)

NGBS is a specific green building certification program that only applies to single-family or multi-family homes. To get certified, you need to comply with green building practices in energy and water efficiency, indoor air quality, resource efficiency, lot design and operations and maintenance. 

If you’re converting an old commercial building into residences, you can still apply for NGBS certification depending on how many green practices you use to convert the building. 

7. Living Building Challenge

Living buildings are a new type of green building that consider how buildings interact with the natural environment. A living building is self-sufficient and doesn’t rely on external sources for energy, water, and other resources. These buildings are made to connect people with the natural world and with their communities. 

To achieve this certification, you have to prove that your building meets the certification criteria. The program offers different levels and certifications for new builds, renovations, interiors, and landscape design. This certification is unique in that it considers the built environment and applies different criteria based on climate zones. 

8. Green Globes

Green Globes is a science-based certification that lets you choose which sustainability factors best apply to your building. You need to meet a set of mandatory requirements, but once you pass, you can personalize your certification. Next, you create an account, fill out a questionnaire, and work with a Green Globes team to get your certification. 

The Importance of Green Building Certifications

Achieving green building certification gives you more than a pretty sticker or prestigious plaque. It highlights your environmental responsibility and helps you attract people who appreciate these traits in a building. The role of IAQ in green building certification is also important, as all of these programs measure it along with water quality and energy consumption. Green building certification encourages you to think about these factors as you design and build.  

You benefit by reducing your operational costs and attracting tenants who want spaces in which they can thrive. 

Achieving Green Certification Success With Attune

Indoor air and water quality are key factors in every green building rating system. Whether you’re operating commercial buildings or residential units, you can track and improve indoor air quality with Attune.  

Our plug and play solution includes IoT sensors that measure air and water quality, energy consumption and more. These sensors transmit the data to a user-friendly platform with dashboards and printable reports you can send with your certification application. As an added bonus, these sensors help you maintain your healthy building status after you’ve been certified. 

Contact us today to learn how we can help you prove your commitment to green design.