A recent Architectural Record article discusses an interesting new standard for green buildings – SERF. SERF, or Society of Environmentally Responsible Facilities, is trying to give building owners an alternative to the LEED system of rating green buildings. The goal is to allow building owners to certify their buildings as green and energy efficient in 4-6 weeks as opposed to LEED, which can take over a year.

While the introduction of SERF does address an issue building owners have had with the time and expense of LEED certification ($50,000 - $80,000 by some estimates), it does not fully address the value the building owner is looking for. The main reason LEED has been so successful is not the measures that it requires building owners to undertake, or even the positive benefits that come from those measures. The success of LEED is embodied by the cachet associated with having a LEED-certified building.

People who proceed with LEED do it for a reason: it pays off even with the considerable time and expense required. Of course the counterpoint to consider is those people who don’t pursue LEED, but who would like to. Personally, I believe that it could be tough for a small building owner to extract value from a SERF certification, though in a competitive rental market maybe it is the display of greenness that pushes a renter to sign a lease or justifies higher rent levels. In the government space, where stakeholders may not be as beholden to a particular standard – as long as they can prove they are green – SERF could potentially be a better, faster, cheaper way of getting there.

Only time will tell. But based on the fact that it took LEED 11 years to gain really widespread acceptance, SERF will likely have to wait and see if they have a winner on their hands.