Terms of Use & AI Disclosures
USGBC-CA Building Performance Hub

1) No professional, technology, or vendor recommendations; verification required

The USGBC-CA Building Performance Hub (“Hub”) does not provide legal, engineering, architectural, accounting, or tax advice, and it does not make technology, product, or vendor recommendations or endorsements. All outputs (including findings, guidance, comparisons, and matches) are informational only and must be independently verified against official sources (codes, program rules, utility terms) and with qualified professionals. Do not use the Hub as the sole basis for compliance or procurement decisions.

2) Model limitations, no direct building/system access, and estimates

The Hub does not have direct access to your building systems or operational data unless you provide it. Outputs may be incomplete, outdated, or incorrect due to changes in laws, incentives, program eligibility, data quality, or model limitations. Any savings, timelines, and cost figures are planning-level estimates only, not guarantees. Actual results will vary.

3) Your responsibilities

You agree to: (a) provide accurate, lawful inputs; (b) validate outputs before acting; (c) obtain required permits/approvals; and (d) comply with applicable laws, codes, and program rules. Do not rely on the Hub for life-safety or mission-critical decisions.

4) Data sharing, privacy, and AI use

  • Share thoughtfully: Only provide information you are willing to share with USGBC-CA. Interactions may be monitored for quality and accuracy to improve reliability and safety.

  • Model Training and Privacy: Your session content and uploads are used solely to retrieve relevant references and to generate responses for you using retrieval-augmented generation. They are not used to train, fine-tune, or otherwise update any general-purpose or third-party large language models.

  • Storage & location: Session content and uploaded files are stored on U.S.-based AWS infrastructure.

  • Security & retention: Protected with reasonable safeguards; retention and sharing with service providers. All session information shared is associated only with your session and stored in a chat log accessible to USGBC-CA and Pandotic for QA purposes. Documents and data shared with this chatbot are stored on AWS in a RAG (Retrieval Augmented Generation) and are not used to train any LLM. 

5) Third-party sources and programs

The Hub may reference third-party data, tools, incentives, and financing programs. Terms, eligibility, and availability are set by those third parties and may change without notice. USGBC-CA is not responsible for third-party content or decisions made by others.

6) Disclaimers

The Hub and all content are provided “As Is” and “As Available.” To the maximum extent permitted by law, USGBC-CA disclaims all warranties, express or implied, including accuracy, reliability, merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, non-infringement, and availability.

7) Liability limits

To the maximum extent permitted by law, USGBC-CA will not be liable for indirect, incidental, special, consequential, exemplary, or punitive damages, or any loss of profits, data, or use. In no event will USGBC-CA’s aggregate liability relating to the Hub exceed $10,000.

8) Indemnification

You agree to indemnify and hold harmless the California Green Building Council, doing business as USGBC California or USGBC-CA, and Pandotic LLC (and their affiliates, officers, employees, and agents) from claims arising out of your inputs, your use of outputs, or your violation of these Terms.

9) Changes

We may update the Hub and these Terms. Material changes will be posted with a new effective date. Your continued use after changes means you accept them.

Effective date: September 24, 2025