Green Building Certifications

Green, environmentally-friendly buildings cost less to operate and provide healthier, more productive environments in which people, live, work and play. Bright Power’s experts help developers improve their projects to operate sustainably for the long-term.

Achieving a green certification—Passive House, Enterprise Green Communities, ENERGY STAR®, or LEED®—is a win-win for your development. It confers public recognition of your development as a sustainability leader, and confirms that your project has realized significant operational and environmental benefits.

Bright Power will work with you to determine which certifications make the most sense for your project and then support your project to receive certification.

Passive House buildings perform to an extremely high standard. They significantly lower operation costs—90%reduction in heating and cooling demand and up to 75% reduction in overall energy demand—and provide maximum resident comfort and occupant health. Our Passive House Certified (CPHC/CPHD) professionals consult throughout the design process and perform the rigorous inspections, testing, and verification necessary to achieve certification.

EGC is the first national green building program developed for affordable housing that aligns investment strategies with environmentally responsive building practices. EGC is required for New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development (HPD) funded projects and is one of several certifications developers can achieve for Housing Finance Agency (HFA) communities across New York State.

ENERGY STAR has a number of different certification programs. For new construction, the EPA requires that a building conform to certain design standards and undergo a process of inspections, testing, and verification to receive the ENERGY STAR label. This certification indicates a building uses less energy while delivering tenants better comfort.

DOE’s ZERH certification is the valuable “next step” to take once a project has decided to pursue ENERGY STAR certification. This additional certification incorporates ENERGY STAR Multifamily New Construction and Indoor airPLUS certifications along with solar PV-readiness requirements to position residential buildings towards zero operating emissions with more stringent energy efficiency targets.

LEED is the most widely used green building rating system in the world for all building types. Our LEED Accredited Professionals and LEED Green Raters work with multifamily development teams to design and build to the highest levels of LEED certification.