Green Globes

Green Globes is an environmental assessment, education and rating system that is promoted in the United States by the Green Building Initiative, a Portland, Oregon-based non-profit.

Canada’s federal government has been using the Green Globes suite of tools for several years under the Green Globes name and it has been the basis for the Building Owners and Manufacturer's Association of Canada’s Go Green Plus program. Adopted by BOMA Canada in 2004, Go Green Plus was chosen by Canada’s Department of Public Works and Government Services, which has an estimated 300 buildings in its existing portfolio.

The system, which is an online interactive software tool, competes with the better known, more cumbersome and more expensive Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) system from the U.S. Green Building Council (another non-profit based in Washington, DC).

Green Globes helps both with the new construction of commercial buildings and with the maintenance and improvement of existing buildings.

According to a study by the University of Minnesota, "nearly 80 percent of the categories available for points in Green Globes are also addressed in LEED 2.2 and that over 85 percent of the categories specified in LEED 2.2 are addressed in Green Globes." The same study indicated that there was only moderate dissimilarity between the rating standards, but that LEED has a slightly greater emphasis on materials choices and Green Globes has a slightly greater emphasis on saving energy.

Numerous buildings have been evaluated with both systems. In all but two of the instances, the systems have generated comparable ratings. The other two buildings were only marginally different.

The primary differences between the two approaches then boil down to ease of use and cost.

According to the University of Minnesota study "From a process perspective, Green Globes' simpler methodology, employing a user-friendly interactive guide for assessing and integrating green design principles for buildings, continues to be a point of differentiation to LEED's more complex, and largely paper-based system. While LEED has recently introduced an online-based system, it remains more extensive and requires expert knowledge in various areas. Green Globes' web-based self-assessment tool can be completed by any team member with general knowledge of the building's parameters." The researchers added that, "In contrast, LEED tends to be more rigid, time-intensive, and expensive to administer."