Introducing GreenPoint Rated

These days, it seems like everyone's talking about green homes, and for good reason. Environmentally friendly homes not only save resources and money, they can last longer, be healthier and more comfortable, and hold their value better than similarly priced homes. But how can you tell if a home really is green?

GreenPoint Rated removes the guesswork by having a trained and certified Rater evaluate a home's green features, providing a numerical score, which allows buyers to evaluate and compare the environmental performance of different homes, a level playing field for like-to-like comparison. GreenPoint Rated rewards building professionals and homeowners who create green homes by allowing them to brand their products with a recognizable, trustworthy seal of approval.

A GreenPoint Rated home is graded on five categories:

• Energy Efficiency
• Resource Conservation
• Indoor Air Quality
• Water Conservation
• Community

Homebuyers

The GreenPoint Rated label gives assurance of a healthier, more environmentally responsible home. GreenPoint Rated homes are verified to exceed state building and energy code requirements for health and environmental performance.

Builders, contractors, and architects

GreenPoint Rated provides validation from a trusted, independent source to support your marketing efforts as a green builder. Participating in GreenPoint Rated will help you meet growing consumer demand for green homes and outpace your competition. Upon satisfactory completion of the rating process, your projects will be eligible to feature the GreenPoint Rated logo in marketing materials, subject to logo use guidelines.

Other building professionals

Real estate agents, financing specialists, appraisers and others who work in fields related to new home construction and sales can rely on GreenPoint Rated to help their clients identify homes that are healthier, more environmentally friendly and exceed California's building and energy codes.

Local governments

GreenPoint Rated fosters sustainability in your community by spurring the development of healthier, more environmentally responsible homes. GreenPoint Rated also provides a means of tracking the number of green homes built in your community and quantifying the resource and health benefits those homes deliver. In fact, GreenPoint Rated can be a key strategy to help your community achieve its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions reduction goals.

GreenPoint Rated Existing Home

With 70% of our existing home stock in California built prior to 1980 and the adoption of the California Title 24 energy code, the need to upgrade existing homes is enormous. Fortunately, there is a lot of movement in this direction Statewide.

In its continued effort to promote healthy, energy and resource-efficient buildings in California, Build It Green has developed GreenPoint Rated Existing Home, modeled after GreenPoint Rated New Home, the third party rating system in use since late 2006. GreenPoint Rated Existing Home is the first comprehensive green building rating system for existing homes of its kind in the nation and is available for homes of all vintages; existing or undergoing remodeling.

A major objective of the Existing Home rating system is to educate homeowners about the benefits of green remodeling and to provide a pathway for making continued improvements.