Green Building Rating Systems
It is for residential projects only, and has separate categories for new home construction, home remodels, and multi-family buildings. Water is one of the five major criteria. A minimum of 50 points must be accumulated for successful certification, at least 9 of these points under the water conservation criteria. In the single-family residential new construction category, up to 26 points could be earned outdoors, through mulching and plant choice and high-efficiency irrigation. Indoors high-efficiency fixtures, toilets, and appliances are worth up to 12 points. Graywater reuse could earn 3 points, rainwater harvesting and composting toilets each 2 points, recycled water use or an innovative wastewater system is worth 1 point each. Under GreenPoint Rated, a total of 54 points could be accumulated through investments in water efficiency and reuse.
As with LEED, the costs for GreenPoint Rated certification are a major complaint. For this reason many cities that use the system’s checklist as the basis for their Green Building requirements, do not force building owners to actually obtain the certification.
