Thinking of the sprawling, materialistic metropolis of Las Vegas can send shivers up the spine of any environmental advocate: excessive water use, unsustainable urban planning, and unnatural buildings in the middle of a desert.  Over 50 green, manicured golf courses in an area that shouldn’t have one.  The ostentatious display of water flowing in monumental fountains, combined with a car-dependent population and enormous energy inefficient buildings, will leave anyone doubtful of sustainable developments in the building sector any time soon.

Yet new legislation is being considered in Las Vegas that will jumpstart the green building movement.  At least we hope.  As of March 2009, the debate continues over increasing tax credits for sustainable buildings throughout the state.  The outcome looks good, as stimulus funding is flowing from the federal government to jumpstart the green economy.    What’s more, the National Clean Energy Summit 2.0 was held in Las Vegas this past Monday, August 10th, a sign that things might be changing in this desert oasis.

Meanwhile, some developers have decided to take matters into their own hands by creating a 62- acre “eco-development.”   Spearheaded by MGM, the city’s new CityCenter is expected to be complete by the end of this year and perhaps become the nation’s largest LEED-certified project.  There is talk of other developers following suit.

The developers hope to reduce utility bills, decrease energy use, and foster a healthier environment for guests and employees.

The increased attention being paid to Las Vegas as a potential center for environmental leadership will help make green building mainstream.  While Nevada may lack water, it certainly does not lack sun.   As the National Clean Energy Summit leaders remarked, “Nevada has abundant clean energy sources such as solar, wind, geothermal, and efficiency technologies that could be developed to meet its future energy needs. The question is whether Nevadans—and all Americans—will shift to a clean energy economy.”

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In spring of 2008, without much fanfare, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) kicked off its “Green Building Strategy.” Later in the year the agency produced a formal document outlining its commitment to green building and the strategy for promoting it.  I say:  “better late than never…”

The strategy puts forth five objectives:

• to inform building decisions with better standards and metrics
• to advance knowledge and overcome barriers through research
• to lead by example with the agency’s own facilities
• to expand understanding of green building
• to increase adoption of green building practices in areas where progress has been more limited, including homes and existing commercial and public buildings.

The document highlights the EPA’s research focus—not only their own departmental research, but collaboration with academic and other research organizations.    An umbrella entity that helps to coordinate and help develop more exact guidelines and catalogs best practices is a concept that is long overdue. 

“EPA will in­creasingly use that platform to help raise awareness about the environmental impacts and opportunities associated with buildings, so that consumers and other organiza­tions can make better informed decisions when purchas­ing building-related products or services.”  Now that ought to be music to everyone’s ears.   The concept of green building just shouldn’t be that difficult.  

The on-line document goes on to state:  “While surveys suggest that many people would like to reduce the environmental impacts of their homes, many either do not know where to start or are overwhelmed by the breadth of information available. “  Awareness of products, technologies, and best practices should be readily available and easily understood.  Hopefully it will soon become second nature to anyone considering a building or rebuilding project.

The EPA has the credibility and hopefully the funding that will push the green building movement into a new era of public awareness.  The on-line document states:  “EPA will play an important role in bringing about the widespread adoption of effective, high-performance green buildings for the benefit of this and future generations.”  Sounds great!  I hope they mean it.

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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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