| LEED (Leadership
in Energy and Environmental Design) certification is gaining
acceptance in the architectural and construction communities.
To be LEED certified, a building must meet a certain amount
of criteria that has been established by the USGBC (US Green
Building Council). There are no prizes for being certified;
the rewards for achieving certification are primarily those
gained from the long-range cost savings that may occur, or from
the public relations value that comes from publicizing a company’s
commitment to being “green”.
To achieve certification, a building must be
designed and constructed according to a checklist of principles
that is scored on a point basis. The lowest rating of certification
is “Certified”, which is 26-32 points. Silver is 33-38 points,
Gold is 39-51 points, and Platinum is 52-69 points. 69 is the
highest score possible. Less than a dozen buildings have been
able to achieve the Platinum rating so far.
During the design and construction process,
each of the scoring criteria must be documented according to
standards that have been established by the USGBC or other governmental
agencies like the EPA.
The rating system is described in a 75 page
document published by the USGBC, so it is impossible to describe
it in any real detail in this article. However, here is a brief
rundown on the kinds of things that are included on the checklist.
The checklist is divided into six main categories
that include the following topics: Sustainable Sites, Water
Efficiency, Energy & Atmosphere, Materials & Resources,
Indoor Air Quality and Innovation and Design Process.
The Sustainable Sites category includes the
following subcategories: Erosion & Sedimentation Control,
Site Selection (picking sites that are not farmland, flood plain
or wetlands), Urban Redevelopment, Brownfield Development, Alternative
Transportation (reducing the use of the automobile), Reduced
Site Disturbance (leaving as much of a site in its natural state
as possible), Stormwater Management (preventing rain runoff
by using the water for things like landscape irrigation or for
flushing toilets), Heat Island Effect, and Light Pollution Reduction.
The Water Efficiency category includes Water
Efficient Landscaping, Innovative Wastewater Technologies (for
example, using water from sinks to flush toilets), and Water
Use Reduction.
The Energy & Atmosphere category includes
Fundamental Building Systems Commissioning (calibrating heating
and air conditioning and other systems to insure they are working
efficiently), Minimum Energy Performance, CFC Reduction in HVAC
& R (refrigeration) Equipment, Optimize Energy Performance,
Renewable Energy, Additional Commissioning, Ozone Depletion,
Measurement & Verification and Green Power (getting electricity
from power companies that generate electricity from wind, solar
or biomass energy sources).
The Materials & Resources categories includes
Storage & Collection of Recyclables, Building Reuse, Construction
Waste Management, Recycled Content, (use of) Local.Regional
Materials, Rapidly Renewable Materials (products made from plants
that can be grown in ten-year life cycles) and Certified Wood
(wood grown according to “green” standards”.
The Indoor Air Quality(IAQ) category includes
Minimum IAQ Performance; Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS) Control,
Carbon Dioxide Monitoring, Ventilation Effectiveness, Construction
IAQ Management Plan, Low-Emitting Materials (for example, fumes
from adhesives, sealants, paints, carpet and composite wood),
Indoor Chemical & Pollutant Source Control, Controllability
of Systems, Thermal Comfort and Daylight & Views.
The final category, Innovation & Design
includes Innovation in Design and (use of a) LEED Accredited
Professional.
Is LEED certification expensive to achieve?
Tary Holowka, a communications manager from the USGBC was quoted
in a February ’05 issue of Architectural Record as saying “Certified
and Silver ratings, generally, can be achieved at no additional
cost. The cost of reaching Gold certification is, on average,
three to five percent; Platinum from five to seven percent.”
In review of this document, I saw many good
ideas, but also some based on junk science. However, it will
take a long time for the public to accept LEED certification,
and the public needs to remain free to accept it or reject it.
For the time being, there is a great deal of political pressure
on America to participate more with the rest of the world in
the “Green” movement, and that could eventually lead to legislation
to adopt these design principles as law.
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