CERTIFICATIONS AND RATING SYSTEMS
Cols
Summary
Certifications and Rating Systems covers the voluntary programs that set and verify performance targets for sustainability, energy, and health. Programs differ in focus, scoring, documentation burden, and who verifies the result.
Types
- Choosing and Combining Certifications
A comparison of LEED, Passive House, WELL, Living Building Challenge, and ZERH by focus, verification, and overlap to guide choosing and pairing programs. - ENERGY STAR and Zero Energy Ready
ENERGY STAR new home certification and the DOE Zero Energy Ready Home program, which builds on ENERGY STAR with a HERS Index target. - LEED
The USGBC point-based green building rating system, with four certification levels and rating system versions that shift weight toward decarbonization. - Living Building Challenge
The Living Future Institute certification organized into seven Petals and 20 Imperatives, with Core, Petal, and Living tiers and separate Zero Energy programs. - Passive House
Performance-based low-energy building standard with two certifying bodies, PHI worldwide and PHIUS with climate-specific targets for North America. - WELL
The WELL Building Standard, which certifies building features across ten health concepts using preconditions, optimizations, and four point-based levels.
Sources
- U.S. Green Building Council: LEED, https://www.usgbc.org/leed
- International Living Future Institute: Living Building Challenge, https://living-future.org/lbc/
- International WELL Building Institute: WELL, https://www.wellcertified.com/
- Passive House Institute US: PHIUS, https://www.phius.org/