The Green Building Initiative (GBI) will launch a rating tool for eco-friendly interior designers and architects, called Green Globes for Sustainable Interiors, at the annual NeoCon commercial interior design tradeshow in Chicago.
Interior Sources reports that GBI’s latest green building certification program will include a survey assessment, the use of an independent assessor to work with the client throughout the project, and a strong focus on energy savings from lighting and plug or process loads.
The Green Globes for Sustainable Interiors will also extensively use Environmental Product Declarations to aid materials choices and rewards office furniture certified under the BIFMA Level standard, the publication says.
In October, the US General Services Administration recommended the Green Globes building standard as an alternative to LEED, for federal buildings outside the GSA portfolio. Two months later, in another victory for the Green Globes, the US Department of Defense decided to allow its facilities to use the GBI green building certification program.
Some 62 percent of firms building new single family homes report that they are doing more than 15 percent of their projects green and 84 percent of them expect this level of green building by 2018, according to a report from McGraw Hill Construction published last week.
