The Green Building Initiative (GBI) announced the approval by GBI’s Board of Directors on June 11 of ANSI-GBI 01-2019: Green Globes Assessment Protocol for Commercial Buildings, which was formally approved by ANSI as a consensus document at the end of April and subsequently published as an approved Standard in ANSI’s Standards Action publication on May 3.

“This represents more than four years of investment of time and effort by dozens of volunteer experts, hundreds of members of the public that participated, and GBI staff members,” stated Dr. Charles Kibert, a professor at University of Florida who served as vice chair of the ANSI/GBI 01-2019 consensus body and is a member of GBI’s board of directors. “We are extremely proud of GBI’s ongoing commitment to consensus, transparency, and due process and want to thank all those that worked collaboratively to revise and improve Green Globes.”

Vicki Worden, president and CEO of GBI, added, “More than 230 public meetings were held to deliberate the latest science and research, baselines, and market advancements since the last update to Green Globes. There’s tremendous excitement about Green Globes contributing leading-edge thought leadership to green building design, construction and operations with this revised Standard.”

Advances in the Standard’s content include language on resilience, life cycle cost analysis, moisture control analysis, health and effectiveness, and many other market advances, such as higher efficiency plumbing fixture specifications and greatly expanded lighting and acoustic comfort sections.

GBI is the only green building organization to deliver its rating system through an ANSI-audited consensus process, having first published ANSI-GBI 01-2010 and now its 2019 revised version of that original Standard.

ANSI-GBI 01-2019 was registered and approved to continue its revision process through what ANSI calls “continuous maintenance,” which, according to Worden, “…means that revisions will happen every two years to keep the Standard and rating system in lock step with advances in the market and the constantly advancing baselines.”

Green Globes references hundreds of other consensus documents that are periodically revised, and for this reason, using continuous maintenance will ensure the system changes as needed and through an ANSI approved process for regular updates. Additionally, GBI will soon announce the formation of technical advisory groups (TAGs), which Worden states, “…will be tasked with reviewing proposals for changes to specific criteria in ANSI/GBI 01-2019, a new construction and major renovations focused document, as well as corresponding criteria in GBI’s soon to be released pilot of Green Globes 2019 for Existing Buildings. With focused TAGs, GBI expects to more swiftly approve proposed revisions for public comment and eventual publication.”

The final approved Standard and proposals for changes to the Standard, which can be submitted at any time using forms provided on GBI’s website, can be found at https://www.thegbi.org/ansi. The schedule for review of proposals is also published on the website.