As a result, he says, industry members are depriving themselves of a simpler, though no-less-rigorous assessment and certification program. For the uninitiated, GBI launched the 1,000-point program in 2004 as an interactive, web-based tool for owners, designers and contractors of sustainable buildings to evaluate both new and existing facilities via a series of questions.

As administered today, a GBI-certified third-party consultant performs a preliminary evaluation once construction documents are complete and then a final, onsite evaluation as a facility nears completion. Projects can earn up to four Green Globes, with two Globes the equivalent of LEED Silver certification.

Yudelson, a former LEED consultant who joined GBI a year ago, has mapped plans to expand usage of the Globes by five to 10 times in the next five years, primarily by targeting larger users such as school districts and universities.

A Growing Acceptance

While the program lacks the marquee value of LEED, recognition of Green Globes is growing, according to the 2014 Green Building Market Barometer, a biennial study by New York City-based contractor Turner Construction Co. A survey of more than 300 executives with organizations that own or rent space found that while 62% of respondents would be extremely or very likely to seek LEED certification if involved with a sustainable project—up from 48% in 2012—the percentage very likely to seek certification under an alternative rating system, Globes included, had more than doubled, from 17% to 43%, during the same period.

GBI's program received a significant boost in October 2013 when the U.S. General Services Administration recommended the federal government use either LEED or Green Globes to evaluate the performance of its sustainable projects. Upon evaluating the two programs, GSA concluded that LEED aligned more closely with federal standards for new facilities, the Globes more closely with those for existing ones.

Last October, the U.S. Dept. of Energy ruled that federal agencies must adhere to the equivalent of LEED Silver or two Green Globes when constructing new facilities or undertaking major renovations. "From a federal perspective, at least the issue of technical equivalency has been settled," says Yudelson.

Neither GSA's recommendation nor the DOE edict has done much to move the needle, however. "We're not aware of increased usage of the Globes or of many agencies that have used it in the past," says Kamara Jones, GSA deputy press secretary.

"It's going to be a long, slow process," says Yudelson. "The good news is that once you're in, it's hard to be shown out."

For University of North Carolina-Charlotte, the decision to construct Belk Hall—a 426-bed, 175,000-sq-ft student housing facility—in accordance with the Globes program marked a sea change in certification policy on campus.