In addition to LEED, there are other commercial and institutional green building rating systems. One system in the United States is called Green Globes, a program of the Green Building Initiative. The Green Globes rating system is supposedly easier for project teams to use, but currently has less than 1 percent of the market for commercial and institutional buildings. ^[*] However, Green Globes has its adherents, mostly because it is said that the certification costs are less expensive than LEED s costs. (This claim has not been independently verified.) Because the system is a self-assessment, without a strong third-party review, critics contend that it lacks the rigor and, therefore, the credibility of LEED.

Along with the USGBC, the Green Building Initiative is an accredited U.S. standards development organization. A 2006 study by the University of Minnesota compared the credits offered by the two systems and found 80 percent of the available points in Green Globes are addressed in the LEED-NC version 2.2 (the current standard) and that 85 percent of the points in LEED-NC version 2.2 are addressed in Green Globes. ^[*] In essence, the standards are virtually identical, but LEED has market dominance and will likely keep it in the years ahead.

Three non-U.S. rating systems have substantial support in their respective markets: the Japanese CASBEE system, the British BREEAM, and the Australian Green Star. ^{[ ]} The main standard used in the United Kingdom, BREEAM is supported by the...