What Is LEED

LEED is a green building rating system that was developed by the U.S. Green Building Council in 1998. LEED which stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design provides a set of standards to help guide architects and designers to construct environmentally sustainable structures. The LEED guidelines cover many different construction scenarios, from new construction and commercial interiors to homes and neighborhood developments, with each bringing ts own unique set of problems and solutions.

The LEED rating system was developed to accomplish the following:

• Promote integrated, whole-building design practices
• Define “green building” by establishing a common standard of measurement
• Recognize environmental leadership in the building industry
• Raise consumer awareness of green building benefits
• Stimulate green competition
• Transform the building market

Advantages and Disadvantages

The most obvious advantage of a LEED certified building is the fact that LEED certified building use resources more efficiently when compared to typical buildings, built only to meet the minimum code requirements. LEED certified buildings will generally qualify the owner for Federal Energy Efficient Tax Incentives allowing the owner to see a monetary return on the investment made. These advantages, combined with increased employee health and productivity, higher tenant retention and lower operating costs, make LEED certification a viable profitable goal for any new or existing building.

Healthier Work Environment:
The main benefit that makes the case for building a LEED certified building is the fact that the healthier work environment increases productivity and the company’s revenue as well. LEED certified buildings are healthier work and living environments, which contributes to higher productivity and improved employee health and comfort. In commercial living spaces, this healthier living environment has proven to increase tenant retention thereby increasing profit. Not only that, but the presence of sustainable design techniques are increasing rental rates per square foot, allowing the owner to further increase their profits.

Energy Efficient Tax Incentives:
Owners or designers of new or existing commercial buildings which save at least 50% of the heating and cooling energy over that of a comparable building that meets ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2001, are eligible for a $1.80 per square foot tax deduction. Partial deductions of up to $.60 per square foot can be taken for energy efficient measures affecting any one of the following three building systems: the building envelope, lighting, or heating and cooling systems. These tax deductions are available for systems “placed in service” from January 1, 2006 through December 31, 2013. For more information, please see the IRS Notice 2006-52, which provides the necessary guidance on deductions related to energy efficient commercial buildings.

Lower Operational Costs:
The operating costs for LEED certified buildings are on average lower than traditional buildings. A recent survey/investigation done on LEED certified buildings, compared operating cost per square foot of non-LEED buildings to LEED buildings in the same region with very similar components of spaces. The investigation found that the majority of the LEED buildings had operating costs that were well below the average for that region.

Reduced Environmental Footprint:
The environmental footprint of a building is basically the net impact that the new building has on the environment. This footprint includes the environmental impact of the raw materials used in the construction, the by-products of manufacturing processes used to create the building components as well as the direct affect that the building has on its local environment. In general LEED certified building reduce the net environmental footprint of the structure by requiring local materials, site preservation, better sitting, more recycled content and lower use of toxic materials.

Higher Initial Costs:
The higher initial costs of many LEED certified buildings is the main disadvantage of LEED certification. While it is true that the majority of LEED certified buildings do have higher initial costs, many recent studies have shown that the higher initial costs is more likely due to improper and untimely implementation of sustainable design strategies. It has been tested and proven, that when designers, consultants and LEED accredited professionals are brought in and briefed at the beginning of a project as to the LEED goals of the project, the initial costs are much lower and even sometimes under budget. The early design meetings allow these professionals to brainstorm and come up with creative, simple and affordable ways of integrating many of the required sustainable systems into the building design to lower costs. It is these crucial pre-design and design development meetings that allow many LEED certified buildings to be built at comparable construction cost as current industry standards.

Certification

The LEED certification process is a very technical and involved process. It is for this reason that the USGBC launched a LEED Accredited Professional program (LEED AP) to distinguish building professionals who have passed their accreditation exam, demonstrating a thorough understanding of the LEED rating system as well as green building principals and practices.

The LEED Rating System addresses six major areas of sustainability:

• Sustainable sites
• Water efficiency
• Energy and atmosphere
• Materials and resources
• Indoor environmental quality
• Innovation and design process

Each of these areas have a preset amount of points which can be earned by conforming to the set standards and in some cases, going above and beyond the set minimum. There are 69 possible points, and once all of the points from each area are added together the buildings can qualify for four levels of certification.

LEED Certification Levels

• Certified - 26-32 points
• Silver - 33-38 points
• Gold - 39-51 points
• Platinum - 52-69 points

The final LEED certification is obtained only after construction is completed and all applications and documentation have been submitted for compliance with the requirements of the rating system. Certification is then granted by the Green Building Council after a thorough investigation and review process has shown that the building did in fact comply with the requirements of the LEED Rating System.