California Green Builder (www.cagreenbuilder.org/): Created by homebuilders for homebuilders, the voluntary program meets the needs of builders, buyers, and California’s cities and counties alike.
Build It Green (www.builditgreen.org): A professional, non-profit membership organization whose stated mission is to promote healthy, energy- and resource-efficient buildings in California, Build It Green developed the GreenPoint Rated system to evaluate and certify green homes in California, and recently released a rating system for existing homes. Its Web site is one-stop shopping for extensive information on its own and other certification systems, incentives for green building, case studies, marketing reports on residential green building, and information on an assortment of green building products. The Web site also hosts a database of green building professionals, which includes everything from architects to green home stagers.
Green Globes (www.greenglobes.com): Green Globes provides a green building assessment tool similar to LEED®. In the early days of green building, Green Globes and LEED® were neck and neck, competing to become “the” green building standard. LEED® appears to have won out, but Green Globes is still attractive due to its lower price-point and long-time inclusion of existing buildings. It’s beneficial to know what Green Globes is and how it relates to green building.
LEED® (www.usgbc.org): The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) is the non-profit organization that created the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®) Green Building Rating System™. While LEED® currently exists only for new, large residential buildings, it’s useful for any real estate professional to have a working knowledge of LEED® criteria.
Good to Know: Green buyers tend to be well-educated, middle-income professionals who roughly range in age from 30 to 60.