Earth Advantage Inc

Programs: Earth advantage certification: earth advantage home certification is one of the oldest and most respected green home certifications in the united states. It relies largely on field inspections to verify compliance with green building standards. Earth advantage home certification offers three possible levels of certification silver, gold and platinum, depending on points earned. Its a great place for builders just starting to build green. It can also be utilized for multifamily buildings. Leed for homes is a green certification developed by the us green building council, for which earth advantage institute is one of the largest providers in the u. S. Leed for homes is typically used by builders of multifamily buildings, but occasionally it is used for single family units as well. The program requires the submittal of more documentation than the earth advantage home certification. Earth advantage also certifies homes to the following standards and ratings: northwest energy star, passive house, epa watersense, epa indoor airplus, resnet hers index, and energy trust energy performance score. In 2013 earth advantage started certifying homes to the earth advantage net zero standard that recognizes homes projected to have zero annual net energy use. Earth advantage commercial certification was established with the vision of bringing an affordable, alternative green rating system to the market, enabling small commercial buildings to obtain a rigorous yet affordable third-party certification. The key to that value proposition is that the system is based on projects adopting bundles of measures that have been prescriptively defined for different building types. The program was piloted in oregon starting in 2009 and launched nationally in 2012, and was written in the city of portlands green building policy in 2014. Cakesystems software: the energy performance score software developed by earth advantage starting in 2009 was rebranded cakesystems in the spring of 2012 with the realization that this suite of software tools was being used for more than just creating home energy scores. Cakesystems consists of several modules that allow users to conduct energy audits, manage homeowner engagement workflows, and conduct backend administrative tracking and reporting activities. It is licensed for use by contractors, utilities and community energy efficiency programs in over twenty states around the nation. Research and policy consulting: earth advantage partnered with portland state university to conduct research on the motivations of homeowners in making decisions on energy improvements in seattle. This research was funded by lawrence berkeley national laboratory and published in may 2012. The bullitt foundation and northwest energy efficiency alliance supported policy research conducted by earth advantage related to establishing best practices for energy performance scoring for the pacific northwest region. Earth advantage performed consulting services for four different state governments that piloted energy labeling systems. These services included the design of home energy performance metrics and the integration of these home energy ratings into different energy efficiency program designs. The city of hillsboro sought assistance from earth advantage in supporting a sustainable development program at the south hillsboro community development.

education: earth advantage offered educational programs that included public workshops, contractor classes, builder, appraiser and realtor trainings, program updates, and expert speakers addressing energy efficiency and green building. Additionally earth advantage offers professional accreditation regarding green building expertise for contractors, designers, realtors and appraisers in several different states. These classes were offered locally and nationally in the four states where energy labeling consulting services were provided.