Green Building Programs

The green building movement is exploding in California and across the U.S., led by a number of innovative green building programs. Most green building programs attempt to organize and codify green design and construction practices by creating one or more rating systems. The two leading green building programs in California are U.S. Green Building Council's LEED program and the Build It Green program.

LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design and is a family of green building rating systems that cover a variety of types of commercial and residential construction. LEED is currently the most popular green building program in the United States. It was created and is administered by U.S. Green Building Council (www.usgbc.org). For more information on LEED credits that are relevant to our industry, click here.

Build It Green is a non-profit organization based in the SF Bay Area whose mission is to promote healthy, energy and resource efficient buildings in California. Unlike LEED, Build It Green does not address commercial construction, instead focusing exclusively on residential construction in three areas: remodels, single-family new homes, and multi-family. Build It Green is the most widely used residential green building program in California. For more information, see http://www.builditgreen.org/