A
Green Building Primer
What do green building, sustainability and LEED certification mean?
While the idea of healthy, energy-efficient buildings isn't
new, a few catchphrases have emerged during the past few years
that have some of us, including the most experienced builders,
scratching their heads. We spoke with the U.S. Green Building
Council, the organization that oversees the LEED rating system,
to get some clarification.
What is LEED?
The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Green Building
Rating System, established in 2000, is a voluntary, consensus-based
national standard for developing high-performance, sustainable
buildings developed and administered by the U.S. Green Building
Council. The council represents all segments of the building
industry. LEED standards are currently available for new construction
and major renovation projects, existing building operations,
commercial interiors projects, and core and shell projects.
What defines a building as "green"?
"Environmentally responsible" seems to be the consensus
when it comes to defining a green building. Beyond that, the
basic LEED standard considers site sustainability, water efficiency,
energy efficiency, content of materials and resources, indoor
environmental quality and innovative design.
What does sustainability mean?
The basic definition of sustainability is "to meet the
needs of present generations without compromising the ability
of future generations to meet their own needs."
What are the LEED requirements?
All LEED standards contain three principal types of requirements:
· Prerequisites Required elements that must be met
before a project can be considered for LEED certification
such as zero use of chlorofluoro carbon-based refrigerants
and storage and collections of recyclable materials.
· Core Credits Specific actions a project may take,
which are voluntary, but each level of certification requires
that certain thresholds be met. One example would be reducing
the use of potable water by 50 percent.
· Innovation Credits Extra credit is given for exemplary
performance beyond core credit performance levels or implementation
of innovative actions that confer significant environmental
benefits not covered in the rating system.
How is LEED certification determined?
Provided all prerequisites are satisfied, the LEED certification
rating is determined by the numbers of credits achieved as
follows:
Certified projects achieve at least 40 percent of
the core credits
Silver projects achieve more than 50 percent of the
core credits
Gold projects achieve more than 60 percent of the
core credits
Platinum projects achieve
more than 80 percent of the core credits
Which Texas cities currently have adopted
LEED requirements?
Austin, the first U.S. city
to call for LEED certification, requires certification of
all public projects that are more than 5,000 gsf. For more
information log on to www.ci.austin.tx.us/greenbuilder
Dallas issued a resolution in
January 2003 requiring all city-owned buildings larger than
10,000 sq. ft. to have a minimum LEED certification level
of silver. For more information contact Jill Jordan, assistant
city manager for the city of Dallas, at 214-670-5299.
Frisco is using LEED on capital
projects and considering an ordinance requiring LEED certification
of commercial projects. For more information contact Jeff
Witt, comprehensive and environmental administrator for the
city of Frisco, at 972-335-5540, ext. 145.
|
print this page
e-mail this page
