Attended a presentation on green certification programs, in San Francisco.
http://www.builditgreen.org/registration/index.cfm?fuseaction=moreinfo

Mark Berman of Davis Energy Group talked about the LEED for Homes program. Bruce Mast explained the GreenPoint rating system for residences.

LEED for homes and GreenPoint are two certification programs for "green" buildings. In a nutshell, if you are building a house and you follow the recommendations of the certification program (either LEED or GreenPoint, or both) on making the house energy efficient, then the program will certify your building. You would not only have the boasting right but you would be given a certificate too. You may say you don't need certification and that you just want to implement the recommendations of the program (because they make sense and save you money). You can certainly do that, but then on selling the property you won’t have anything in your hand to prove to the prospective buyer that you indeed made your house green. The certificate is the diploma your building receives on graduating from the University of Energy.

The success of green certification programs is tied up with the cost of oil and the environmental awareness of the society. With rising oil prices it would make sense to make buildings energy efficient, and the certification programs will gain popularity. The certification programs can gain wider acceptance even with stable oil prices, if the society becomes more conscious of environmental problems caused by burning oil.

Let's protect the environment that nurtures our existence.