Environmental Assessment Programs

ISO 14000
The most generally applicable and flexible environmental assessment program was developed by the International Standards Organization (ISO). The ISO 14000 series of international environmental management system standards provide guidance on how to manage the environmental impacts of activities, products, and services. An interesting feature of the ISO 14000 standards is their applicability not only to the building being designed, but to the design process itself. The sustainability of architectural practice vis-à-vis resource use and environmental impacts (e.g., computers, plotters, models, paper, ink, etc.) could be included as a component of the building assessment. The ISO 14000 standards have shaped the thinking of more focused and structured assessment programs aimed primarily at buildings.

British Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Methodology (BREEAM)
BREEAM is the most widely used international method for assessing building quality and performance in terms of energy, environmental impact and health indicators. The broad scope of BREEAM sets best practice criteria for building fabric and services as well as operation and management.

BREEAM was launched in 1990 by the Building Research Establishment (BRE), the principal building research organization in the U.K. BREEAM's widespread acceptance, its sound research, comprehensive approach, and applicability to a range of building types make it a suitable core document upon which to build specialized applications.

BREEAM/GreenLeaf™ was developed in response to the need in the marketplace for a less expensive methodology that could be partially conducted in-house. This makes it an ideal introductory product for managers of office buildings or condominiums who wish to perform a comprehensive assessment of environmental performance. The methodology originated in Canada and was developed by combining the BREEAM set of environmental issues with the Green Leaf Eco-Rating procedure.

Green Building Challenge (GBC)
Green Building Challenge is an international collaborative effort to develop a building environmental assessment tool that exposes and addresses controversial aspects of building performance and from which the participating countries can selectively draw ideas to either incorporate into or modify their own tools. Green Building Challenge 2002 is a continuation of a multi-year period of review, modification and testing of the GBC Assessment Framework and Green Building Tool (GBTool) - the operational software for the assessment framework. This current round of the GBC process will culminate in the presentation of the assessed buildings at the Sustainable Building 2002 Conference to be held in Oslo, Norway in September 2002.

LEED™ is based on accepted energy and environmental principles and strikes a balance between known effective practices and emerging concepts. Unlike other rating systems currently in existence, the development of LEED Green Building Rating System™ was instigated by the US Green Council Membership, representing all segments of the building industry, and has been open to public scrutiny.

LEED™ is a self-assessing system designed for rating new and existing commercial, institutional, and high-rise residential buildings. It is a feature-oriented system where credits are earned for satisfying each of the criteria. Different levels of green building certification are awarded based on the total credits earned. The system is designed to be comprehensive in scope, yet simple in operation.