Yes, it can, at least in buildings and developments. Several organizations and government entities measure and evaluate sustainability, and each does it a little differently. Sustainability is measured by evaluating methods, materials, and practices that are incorporated into a building or development. If a building or development has enough sustainable factors, it is considered sustainable. Different rating systems place emphasis on different factors.
The Forest Service Handbook 7309.11 requires all new Forest Service district offices, supervisor's offices, visitor centers, research facilities, and climate-controlled warehouses containing 10,000 or more gross square feet to be registered and certified under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system at the Silver certification level.
The Savannah River Forestry Sciences Laboratory
building is LEED certified at the silver level.
The window
shutters (propped open in the photo)
significantly
reduce
the heat load and air
conditioning costs at this
location
in
South
Carolina. The "missiles" on top of the building
are fume
hood vents.
Campus: Carrol H. Warner Savannah River Research
Campus
Unit: Forest Watershed Science Research
Work Unit
Station: Southern Research Station
LEED is the best-known sustainability rating system in the United States. It is a voluntary, consensus-based standard for developing high-performance, sustainable buildings. LEED ratings can be obtained at four different levels, depending on the number of sustainability features incorporated into the project. Certified is the minimum level of LEED certification. Silver and gold are intermediate ratings, and platinum is the highest rating. More information on LEED is available on the What do I need to know about Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)? page.
Green Globes is another system to measure and certify sustainability. Although it is available in the United States, it is used more commonly in Canada. It relies on an online auditing tool that assesses and rates buildings against best practices and standards.
Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) is an international method of assessing building sustainability that is based in the United Kingdom and is seldom used in the United States.
EnergyStar, a joint program of the U.S. Department of Energy and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), awards the EnergyStar label to products and systems that meet established energy efficiency requirements. It doesn't evaluate overall sustainability. EnergyStar evaluates the energy performance of:
The Energy Star program also assists homeowners, businesses, institutions, and Government agencies with energy management strategies.
In addition to these national and international programs, a number of state and local governments and organizations have developed sustainability rating systems to help contractors and building owners achieve sustainable development. These include:
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Austin Energy Green Building (Austin, TX)
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Build It Green (California)
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Build San Antonio Green (San Antonio, TX)
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Built Green Colorado (Denver, CO)
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Built Green Washington (Washington state)
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Earth Advantage Homes (Portland, OR)
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Earth Craft (Alabama, Florida, Georgia, South Carolina, Virginia)
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Green Building Program (Scottsdale, AZ)
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Vermont Builds Greener (Vermont)
Software that can help design professionals evaluate the benefits of sustainable materials and systems include:
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The Athena Environmental Impact Estimator software allows comparisons of the environmental implications of conceptual designs. It covers more than 90 structural and envelope materials, simulates more than 1,000 different assembly combinations, and claims to be capable of modeling 95 percent of the building stock in North America. The software was developed by the nonprofit Athena Institute, a Canadian research and development organization focused on sustainability and life cycle assessment of buildings.
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Building for Environmental and Economic Sustainability (BEES) software was developed by the National Institute of Standards and Technology's Building and Fire Research Laboratory with support from the EPA's Environmentally Preferable Purchasing Program. BEES measures the environmental performance of building products by using the life-cycle assessment approach specified in the ISO 14040 series of standards.
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eVALUator is a program that calculates the life-cycle benefits of sustainable materials and methods. This program is focused on California's requirements and regulations. It was created by the California Public Utilities Commission and a coalition of municipal and private utility companies.
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ENERGY-10 analyzes and illustrates the energy and cost savings that can be achieved through sustainable design strategies. It includes hourly energy simulations for daylighting, passive solar heating, natural ventilation, well-insulated building envelopes, better windows, lighting systems, mechanical equipment, etc. It includes a photovoltaic module, a solar domestic hot water module, and a library defining constructions used in ASHRAE 90.1. ENERGY-10 works best on buildings under 10,000 square feet. The software was developed by the National Renewable Energy Lab's Center for Building and Thermal Systems, the Sustainable Buildings Industry Council, and the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory.