California's GreenPoint Rated System:
What Does it Mean?

As you shop for your new home, you are likely to encounter a variety of ranking and rating systems to help you discern the green status of today's environmentally friendly communities. One of the most popular is GreenPoint Rated, a program designed to address the specific needs of the California market.

GreenPoint Rated offers a point-based system that's a lot like a report card-a GreenPoint Rated home is graded in five categories: Energy Efficiency, Resource Conservation, Indoor Air Quality, Water Conservation, and Community. Homes that meet minimum point requirements in each category and score more than a total of 50 points earn the right to be designated GreenPoint Rated.

The GreenPoint Rated label ensures that a home exceeds California's minimum building and energy code requirements and provides a numerical score, which allows buyers to compare the environmental performance of one home versus others. A higher score indicates that a community has achieved a higher level of energy efficiency or environmental performance.

Because GreenPoint Rated homes are evaluated by independent, certified raters, building professionals and home shoppers can feel confident that the rating has integrity and value. This removes the guesswork from evaluating a home's green features, allowing buyers to compare newly built homes on a level playing field, while providing assurance that they are purchasing a healthier, more environmentally responsible home.

Build It Green, which oversees California'a GreenPoint Rated system, is a professional non-profit membership organization whose mission is to promote healthy, energy- and resource-efficient building practices in California. The group works with mainstream stakeholders in the housing industry to accelerate the adoption of green building practices and provide building professionals with the tools and technical expertise needed to construct quality green buildings.

The GreenPoint Rated points system corresponds to the recommended green building measures in Build It Green's New Home Construction and Multifamily Green Building Guidelines. Point values are based on the benefits to the homeowner and the environment, and reflect construction practices that exceed California's building and energy code requirements.

Build It Green's guidelines, and the rating and third-party verification system are reviewed periodically, drawing upon the expertise of green building advocates, architects and designers, homebuilders, contractors, state and local government leaders, building science experts, and product manufacturers and suppliers. The guidelines and benchmarks were developed to address specific climate and market conditions in California and have been tried and tested in the field and proven effective.

In addition to providing an easy way for buyers to compare the green features of a new home, the GreenPoint Rated scoring system offers incentives for builders to strive to build greener as they become more familiar with environmentally friendly products and construction practices.

By embracing green building techniques builders can reduce the impact of construction on the environment and build better homes for families. Green homes offer important benefits over traditional homes including:

• Financial savings resulting from increased energy efficiency.
• More comfort due to tight construction and proper orientation of the home on the lot.
• Healthier living through improved ventilation and use of green products and materials that minimize chemical emissions.
• Less maintenance due to use of premium materials and construction practices that often exceed building code requirements.