To meet the specialized needs of hospitals and long-term care facilities, GBI has launched a new healthcare module of its environmental assessment and certification tool, Green Globes™ for Continual Improvement of Existing Buildings (CIEB). Known as Green Globes CIEB Healthcare, the new module was developed with input from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) to address the complexities, regulations and demand for services associated with healthcare facilities. The new version of the tool has already been used to complete online surveys for 170 VA facilities, which has enabled portfolio-wide comparison and ranking of individual building performance.
Oregon became the 23rd U.S. state to formally recognize Green Globes when it signed into law two bills that specifically name the GBI’s environmental assessment and rating system while the City of Portland, Maine has written Green Globes into its revised green building code.
GBI president Ward Hubbell recently testified before Congress in support of an open playing field for green building certification in the federal sector, particularly within the General Services Administration (GSA). Hubbell urged the GSA to reconsider its LEED-only policy, arguing that competition will lead to innovation in the green building sector and citing examples from other government agencies that have used the Green Globes rating system to assess and certify buildings.