Compare Green Home Standards

Three questions sort the whole field.

What does it measure?

Some programs go deep on one thing: ENERGY STAR, Zero Energy Ready, Passive House, and HERS focus on energy. Others take the whole home: health, water, materials, and carbon alongside energy. GreenStar, LEED, NGBS, Enterprise Green Communities, and the Living Building Challenge are whole-home standards.

New, existing, or both?

Most standards were born in new construction. If your project is a renovation, a gut rehab, or a home improving over time, look for programs with a real path for existing buildings, a core strength of GreenStar and NGBS, and the entire purpose of a HERS rating on an energy retrofit. Renovation projects like the Little Residence show the path.

How accessible is the rulebook?

Every program publishes some of its rulebook; they differ in how much. Check how accessible the checklist, reference guidance, and tools are before you commit, especially if you're learning. GreenStar and Enterprise Green Communities publish their full criteria publicly; that's a deliberate mission choice.

The side-by-side: what each program covers.

A high-level orientation rather than a scoreboard. A focused program is exactly the right choice when its focus matches your goal. Programs evolve, so confirm details on each program's own site.

● Core focus ◐ Addressed — Not a focus

Program	Energy	Health & indoor air	Water	Materials & carbon	Existing homes	Published rulebook	Pricing
GreenStar Homes	Core focus	Core focus	Core focus	Core focus	Core focus	Core focus	Published fee schedule
LEED for Homes	Core focus	Core focus	Core focus	Core focus	Addressed	Addressed	Varies by project / quoted
NGBS (ICC-700)	Core focus	Core focus	Core focus	Core focus	Core focus	Addressed	Varies by project / quoted
ENERGY STAR	Core focus	Addressed	Not a focus	Not a focus	Addressed	Core focus	Varies by project / quoted
DOE Zero Energy Ready	Core focus	Addressed	Addressed	Not a focus	Not a focus	Core focus	Varies by project / quoted
Passive House	Core focus	Addressed	Not a focus	Addressed	Addressed	Addressed	Varies by project / quoted
Living Building Challenge	Core focus	Core focus	Core focus	Core focus	Addressed	Addressed	Varies by project / quoted
Enterprise Green Communities	Core focus	Core focus	Core focus	Core focus	Core focus	Core focus	Varies by project / quoted
WELL for Residential	Addressed	Core focus	Addressed	Core focus	Core focus	Addressed	Varies by project / quoted

The Pricing column reflects transparency, not amount: ● a flat fee schedule you can read before you commit · ◐ cost that varies by project and third-party verifier. GreenStar is the one you can price up front. See GreenStar's fees →

Program by program, head to head.

Each entry says what the program is known for, how it compares to GreenStar, and when to reach for it. Where the two pair directly, we say so, since most of this field stacks rather than competes.

U.S. Green Building Council

LEED for Homes

The most recognized green-building brand in the world. A points-based rating system covering energy, water, materials, and indoor environmental quality, verified by trained Green Raters.

vs. GreenStar: LEED is points-based, brand-first, and priced for higher-profile projects. GreenStar covers the same whole-home ground with a published rulebook, four levels sized for a single house, and a stronger existing-home path. Projects wanting institutional recognition often carry both.

Reach for it when: You want the certification buyers, lenders, and institutions recognize on sight, especially on larger or higher-profile projects.

Pairs with GreenStar: LEED documentation (energy models, ventilation calcs, material records) covers much of what a GreenStar workbook asks for, and vice versa.

Home Innovation Research Labs

National Green Building Standard (ICC-700)

The only residential green standard approved by ANSI, developed through a formal consensus process. Very strong in multifamily, with a dedicated path for remodels.

vs. GreenStar: NGBS brings ANSI consensus and code alignment, and its multifamily program is the deepest in the field. But the rulebook is purchased, not published. GreenStar publishes every requirement publicly and adds achievement badges on top.

Reach for it when: You want a consensus-built, code-aligned standard, particularly for multifamily portfolios or production builders.

U.S. EPA

ENERGY STAR Certified Homes

The household name in energy efficiency. A rigorous, energy-focused baseline built on HERS ratings and third-party verification, trusted by utilities and lenders.

vs. GreenStar: ENERGY STAR is energy-only; GreenStar is whole-home: health, water, materials, and durability alongside energy. An ENERGY STAR home has already done much of GreenStar's energy homework.

Reach for it when: Energy performance is the goal and you want the most widely recognized label for it.

Pairs with GreenStar: An ENERGY STAR certificate and HERS rating slot directly into GreenStar’s energy documentation, with no duplicate work.

U.S. Department of Energy

DOE Zero Energy Ready Home

A high-performance energy specification that gets a home to the point where rooftop solar can take it to zero. Builds on ENERGY STAR and requires enhanced indoor air quality measures.

vs. GreenStar: Zero Energy Ready is a new-construction energy specification. GreenStar recognizes it outright with a badge, then adds the rest of the home, plus a path for existing houses that ZERH doesn't cover.

Reach for it when: You’re building new and want a clear, staged path to a zero-energy home.

Pairs with GreenStar: GreenStar’s Zero Energy Ready badge is designed to recognize exactly this achievement inside a GreenStar certification.

Phius & Passive House Institute

Passive House (PHIUS / PHI)

The deepest commitment to building-envelope performance: super-insulation, airtightness, and balanced ventilation that cut heating and cooling loads to a fraction of a typical home.

vs. GreenStar: Passive House goes deeper on the envelope than anyone, including GreenStar. GreenStar goes wider (health, water, materials) with far lighter modeling and documentation. Comfort-obsessed new builds often do both.

Reach for it when: Comfort and radical energy reduction are the project’s heart, and the team is ready for detailed energy modeling.

International Living Future Institute

Living Building Challenge

The most ambitious standard in the field, regenerative rather than just less-bad. Net-positive energy and water, strict material red lists, and performance proven over a full year of occupancy.

vs. GreenStar: LBC asks more than any standard on this page, GreenStar included: net-positive performance proven over a year of occupancy. GreenStar is the pragmatic on-ramp; LBC is the summit.

Reach for it when: You want to build the most advanced home possible and inspire everyone who visits it.

Enterprise Community Partners

Enterprise Green Communities

The green standard purpose-built for affordable housing, with openly published criteria and deep alignment with public funding programs. Health, resilience, and resident cost savings are front and center.

vs. GreenStar: The closest peer in mission and openness, purpose-built for funded affordable housing. GreenStar serves the same values where funders don't reach: market-rate, owner-led, and single-home projects.

Reach for it when: You’re developing affordable housing and need a standard funders already know and require.

RESNET

HERS Index

Not a certification but a score: the miles-per-gallon rating of home energy use, produced by a certified rater. Lower is better; zero means the home produces as much energy as it uses.

vs. GreenStar: A HERS score is a measurement, not a certification: the number without the story. GreenStar is the certification that puts that number in whole-home context, and accepts it as documentation.

Reach for it when: You want a single, comparable number for energy performance, or another program you’re pursuing requires one.

Pairs with GreenStar: A HERS rating doubles as core documentation for GreenStar’s energy requirements.

You rarely have to choose just one.

Documentation transfers

A HERS rating, an energy model, ventilation calcs, water reports: the evidence one program requires usually satisfies another. Teams routinely certify a home under GreenStar and an energy program from the same folder of documents.

GreenStar badges recognize them

GreenStar's achievement badges (Zero Energy Ready, Zero Energy, Zero Carbon, and more) are built to honor work done to other programs' specifications, inside one whole-home certification.

Start free, go anywhere

Because GreenStar's checklist and manual are published free, many teams use them as the planning framework, then layer on whichever labels the project, lender, or funder calls for.

The whole-home path, for every kind of project.

GreenStar's role in this field is simple: a whole-home standard covering health, energy, water, materials, and durability; a real path for existing homes as well as new construction; four levels so every project has a next step; and a rulebook published free because it's run by a 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Wherever you are in your green building journey, it's a place to start, and it plays well with everything above. Not sure where your own home stands? The two-minute scorecard is the gentlest first step.

GreenStar, compared to every major standard.