Panel Presents Look at Three Different Green Building Programs

Heather Holdridge provided details on the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED building program during the AAMA fall conference.

During the American Architectural Manufacturers Association's (AAMA) fall conference in San Antonio, a panel of three experts took the stage to discuss various green building programs available to the construction industry: the U.S. Green Building Council's (USGBC) LEED program, the National Association of Homebuilders' (NAHB) Green Building Program and the Green Globes program.

Heather Holdridge of Builders Energy Rater in San Antonio, whose company certifies homes for LEED and other energy certifications, headed the discussion of the LEED program. She explained that the program is voluntary and consensus-based and that credits are given for a variety of factors, such as indoor quality, energy efficiency, daylighting, whether the building uses salvaged materials and more.

She warned, though, that the program as it stands today could soon change.

"There are about to be a lot of changes," she warned, "and the only way to know about them is to become a member."

Holdridge advised that the USBC has local and national chapters across the United States, and that some of these are even free to join.

Amber Wood of the NAHB Research Center followed Holdridge with an explanation of the NAHB's green building program. She noted that, with regard to fenestration, the green homebuilding guidelines do require ENERGY STAR® windows or the equivalent.

"The big picture is that NAHB is also developing a fenestration process to go along with this," she added.

Kevin Stover described the Green Globes program, noting that being involved in a green program of any sort can help a company's public relations effort.

"It's a positive image for an organization to be [looking at green] today," he said.

But, he said, with so many options available, it's important to figure out what path to take first.

"We encourage you to establish a goal early and see what the best approach is," Stover said.

Green Globes looks at a variety of aspects of fenestration in its projects, such as overall building energy performance, thermal performance, daylighting (to reduce energy use), life-cycle assessment, daylighting (to enhance indoor environment), and even whether a building is designed to minimize bird collisions. The process by which a product was created also is very important to Green Globes.

"We feel process leads to excellence and performance," he added.

One popular question, initially brought up by Edgetech's Tracy Rogers, who chairs the green and sustainability specification development task group, asked how the programs might perceive an AAMA green certification rating, and whether it might be implemented in the programs. Most were favorable to this idea.

"All of the programs mention ENERGY STAR labels, so yes, all the programs would be open to putting another easily defined label in the programs," Holdridge said.

Wood agreed.

"The [NAHB] standard is very amenable to referring to other certification," she said.

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