The United States Green Building Council (USGBC) has developed a set of guidelines, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), in an effort to provide a national standard for green building design. The pilot version of these guidelines was introduced in 2000 and has continually been expanded and revised. The current version for LEED New Construction and Major Renovation is Version 2.1. Standards also exist that specifically target Commercial Interiors, Core and Shell, Existing Buildings, and Residential Buildings.
The LEED rating system is based on achieving a certain number of points, which are allocated for design choices defined within the standard. There are 6 sections to LEED that target specific design criteria:
1. Site Selection
2. Efficient use of Water
3. Energy and Atmosphere
4. Materials and Resources
5. Indoor Environmental Quality
6. Innovative Design
Depending on the number of points achieved, the building can attain Platinum (52 – 69 points), Gold (39 – 51 points), Silver (33 – 38 points) or LEED certified (26 – 32 points) status. The intent of the LEED standard is to provide a design guideline and third-party certification tool for green buildings. Therefore, products cannot be LEED certified – only buildings can be. An architect or designer can make product choices that will help a building qualify for LEED points.
A few Contractors have concerns that their already narrow profit margins will shrink even more as the demand for “green” buildings increases and more and more environmentally responsible systems are added to specifications.
However, many mechanical contracting and engineering firms have found that going green can be a selling point. The group quickly gained notice after working on a building expansion that promotes building sustainability for businesses and residents through education, research, and technical assistance. It’s become a recognition tool for companies willing to research the Green Building movement and the LEED program, complete a project that satisifes LEED Certification – companies within the construction community that demonstrates the ability to successfully design, build, and support LEED project will become noticed and likely contacted for the many future GREEN building projects which will qualify for LEEDS Points.
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