Guidelines, Rating Systems, and Specifications

Green building performance standards offer a way to clearly state project goals and help us evaluate building performance. They can be found in a variety of documents including guidelines, rating systems, specifications, contracts, and State initiatives.

Guidelines

Sustainable Building Guidelines – a table of guidelines from throughout the United States.

Rating Systems and Best Practices

LEEDTM a green building rating system for commercial buildings based on energy and environmental performance standards.

LEEDTM Supplement for California State Facilities combines California-specific information and requirements, such as Title 24 energy efficiency standards, into a self-certification rating system based on LEED™ Version 2.0.

CHPS Best Practices Manual – a manual including three volumes. Volumes I and II are planning and design guidelines and Volume III, “Criteria,” is a self-certification rating system for high performance schools.

Building and Buying Green In Indian CountryInformation targeting construction in Indian Country.

Specifications

Green Project Specificationsexplains the basics of project specifications and identifies areas to include environmental specifications into a building project. Links to example specifications are also provided.

For more information contact, the Office of Public Affairs, opa@calrecycle.ca.gov