Green building programs and rating systems

• US Green Building Council – the USGBC website is the home of the LEED green building rating systems and a major resource for green building information.  http://www.usgbc.org/

• Canadian Green Building Council – The CaGBC website is the Canadian home for LEED and supporting information. www.cagbc.org

• Green Globes – This is a competing and flexible green building rating system for green buildings.  It requires one to register in order to access its system. www.greenglobes.com   The Green Globes system is connected to the Portland-based Green Building Initiative. http://www.thegbi.org/

• Built Green – This is a pragmatic green building rating system for wood construction (homes, smaller scale multi-family) that is very user friendly and affordable. http://www.builtgreencanada.ca/

• Living Building Challenge – The “living” building approach is one of the most progressive in use today in that buildings are expected to be a net benefit to the planet.  http://living-future.org/lbc

• Passivhaus – This approach to building is gaining profile with many similarities to the Living Building approach.  This site offers a lot of information on projects, resources, courses and the system.  http://www.passivehouse.ca

• R2000 – Energy-efficient Housing – The venerable R-2000 Program encourages the building of healthy, environmentally-friendly, energy-efficient houses. House builders volunteer to build to the R-2000 standard, which exceeds the efficiency level required by building codes and other regulations. This site has a variety of publications on the R2000 program – but little technical detail. For the numbers and details on energy-efficient housing, the CMHC (above) is a much better resource.  http://www.nrcan.gc.ca/energy/efficiency/housing/new-homes/r-2000/5095

• EnerGuide  – EnerGuide is the source of the energy-efficiency labels on much Canadian equipment. This site summarizes energy considerations for comparison-shopping for energy-efficient appliances, residential heating and cooling equipment, vehicles, housing products and housing in Canada.  https://www.nrcan.gc.ca/energy/efficiency/housing/new-homes/energuide/5035

• City of Santa Monica Green Buildings Design & Construction Guidelines Resource List – This is one of the first major green building programs predating LEED’s rise to dominance.  A good site with many resources. http://greenbuildings.santa-monica.org/