GBCI renamed Green Business Certification Inc.

The Green Building Certification Institute has changed its name to Green Business Certification Inc. It will continue to be referred to as “GBCI.”

The name change reflects the organization’s expansion of certification and credentialing services beyond its original focus on design and construction.

GBCI is the only group to administer project certifications and professional credentials and certificates for the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED Green Building Rating System. It also exclusively provides certification and credentialing services for the PEER standard for power systems; the WELL building standard for measuring, certifying and monitoring features of the built environment that impact human health and well-being; and the GRESB benchmark that is used by institutional investors to improve the sustainability performance of the global property sector.

“GBCI’s name change is a true reflection of our direction and vision for the organization, which is to extend its core competencies of certification and credentialing services to organizations that want to advance green business and sustainability practices,” said Rick Fedrizzi, CEO, GBCI. “Third-party validation has become a highly regarded value across the globe and GBCI is well-positioned to fulfill that need.”

New York City has two very large buildings dedicated to answering the 911 calls of its five boroughs. With more than 11 million emergency calls annually, it makes perfect sense. The second of these buildings, the Public Safety Answering Center II (PSAC II) is located on a nine-acre parcel of land in the Bronx. It’s an imposing 450,000 square-foot structure—a 240-foot-wide by 240-foot-tall cube. The gleaming aluminum cube risesthe equivalent of 24 stories from behind a grassy berm, projecting the unlikely impression that it might actually be floating. Like most visually striking structures, the building has drawn as much scorn as it has admiration.