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Beam Development’s retail renovation in Lake Grove, in Lake Oswego, is going to be a green project. But Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification would have been too expensive and too much work, according to Beam’s Eric Shoemaker.

鈥淲e knew we were going to do a green building, whether we were going to get certified for it or not,鈥� he said.

But the firm decided to pursue an alternative certification: .

The Earth Advantage Institute was a division of Portland General Electric before becoming a separate nonprofit entity five years ago. The institute has since formed an education program and green building standards and certifications for homes and multifamily projects. In 2009, a pilot program was launched in response to a perceived market need for green certification for small commercial projects.

In 2010 and 2011, nine projects participated in the EAC pilot program. The institute plans to launch a full program before the end of this year.

But EAC is not intended to be a replacement for LEED, said Earth Advantage Institute marketing director Tom Breunig.

鈥淔or big projects, LEED is a good option; it’s scalable,鈥� he said.

However, EAC can be appealing for developers who find the LEED certification process too costly and time-consuming.

鈥淭here was a market need for something that accommodated the needs of small commercial developers,鈥� said Brian Lynch, manager of the Earth Advantage Commercial program.

The program takes a prescriptive approach, and provides a suggested package of measures depending on a project’s size and type. Lynch describes the setup as a 鈥渕enu鈥� of cost-effective best practices in five categories: energy, health, water, materials and land.

Shoemaker believes the EAC program comes with less risk than its LEED counterpart. 鈥淎nd it costs a lot less,鈥� he said.

The program is designed for projects from 10,000 to 75,000 square feet. Pilot projects have included educational, retail and office projects 鈥� either new buildings or major renovations.

Earth Advantage Commercial can reduce the certification cost for projects that would have had green features anyway.

鈥淭here is a real, quantifiable savings (with energy-saving measures), especially on long-term holds,鈥� Shoemaker said.

He also likened the LEED certification process to 鈥渟ending (an application) off to a black box in (Washington,) D.C., without a conversation.鈥�

In contrast, Earth Advantage provides 鈥渢he ability to have a dialogue with someone on the ground in Portland,鈥� Shoemaker said. 鈥淭he people who are in charge of approving the green certification are there with us.鈥�

Alternatives can be presented if certain green measures fall through or aren’t financially feasible. An Earth Advantage representative comes to construction meetings and can work with the team on making up points where others are lost.

鈥淭here isn’t flexibility in terms of the areas where the project needs to achieve, but the actual pathway to get there is flexible at times,鈥� Lynch said.

He doesn’t believe the Earth Advantage Institute will be challenged to convince people to use the program.

鈥淭his is not something that we have to force upon customers,鈥� Lynch said. 鈥淭here was a perceived market demand; we now know that there is a demand.鈥�

And to meet that demand, Lynch said adjustments will need to be made. 鈥淲e realized we can’t always have that same level of overall oversight with each of the projects,鈥� he said. 鈥淎 streamlining effort is required on our end.鈥�