Portland, Ore. — Virginia and South Dakota recently became the thirteenth and fourteenth states in the United States to formally recognize the Green Building Initiative’s (GBI) Green Globes environmental assessment and rating system in legislation.

“We applaud the states of Virginia and South Dakota for aggressively encouraging sustainable construction through these pieces of legislation,” said Ward Hubbell, president of the GBI. “Decisions such as these, which give design and construction professionals multiple options for meeting the common goal of energy efficiency, will surely result in the increased adoption of sustainable construction practices.”

Virginia and South Dakota join Arkansas, Connecticut, Hawaii, Maryland, Minnesota, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Kentucky, Illinois, New Jersey and Wisconsin as states that have formally recognized Green Globes in green building legislation or regulation.

For more information, visit www.thegbi.org.