Dr Mohammed Alhaj Hussein - LEED - Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design

Dr Mohammed Alhaj Hussein

الإستشاري الدكتور

المهندس محمد تاج الدين الحاج حسين

Dr Mohammed Alhaj Hussein
Jeddah 21499
Saudi Arabia
dralhaj2030@gmail.com

LEED - Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design

LEED: Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design

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 Green Building Rating System represents the US Green Building Council’s effort to provide a national standard for what constitutes a “green building”. The rating system document states the basic intent, requirements and submittals that are necessary to achieve each prerequisite and voluntary credit. Projects earn one or more credits toward certification by meeting or exceeding each credit’s technical requirements. Points add up to a final score that relates to one of four possible levels of certification.

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The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System, developed by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), provides a suite of standards for environmentally sustainable construction. Since its inception in 1998, LEED has grown to encompass more than 14,000 projects in 50 US States and 30 countries covering 1.062 billion square feet (99 km²) of development area. The hallmark of LEED is that it is an open and transparent process where the technical criteria proposed by the LEED committees are publicly reviewed for approval by the more than 10,000 membership organizations that currently constitute the USGBC.

Individuals recognized for their knowledge of the LEED rating system are permitted to use the LEED Accredited Professional (AP) acronym after their name, indicating they have passed the accreditation exam given by the Green Building Certification Institute (a 3rd party organization that handles accreditation for the USGBC).

http://en.wikipedia.org

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History

LEED began its development in 1994 spearheaded by Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) senior scientist Robert K. Watson who, as founding chairman of the LEED Steering Committee until 2006, led a broad-based consensus process which included non-profit organizations, government agencies, architects, engineers, developers, builders, product manufacturers and other industry leaders. Early LEED committee members also included USGBC co-founder Mike Italiano, architects Bill Reed and Sandy Mendler, builder Gerard Heiber and engineer Richard Bourne. As interest in LEED grew, in 1996, engineers Tom Paladino and Lynn Barker co-chaired the newly formed LEED technical committee.

From 1994 to 2006, LEED grew from one standard for new construction to a comprehensive system of six interrelated standards covering all aspects of the development and construction process. LEED also has grown from six volunteers on one committee to more than 200 volunteers on nearly 20 committees and nearly 150 professional staff.

LEED was created to accomplish the following:

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

Green Building Council members, representing every sector of the building industry, developed and continue to refine LEED. The rating system addresses six major areas:

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

Benefits and Disadvantages

LEED certified buildings use key resources more efficiently when compared to conventional buildings which are simply built to code. LEED certified buildings have healthier work and living environments, which contributes to higher productivity and improved employee health and comfort. The USGBC has also compiled a long list of benefits of implementing a LEED strategy which ranges from improving air and water quality to reducing solid waste. The fundamental reduction in environmental impacts in addition to all of the economic and occupant benefits goes a long way for making a case for green building. It is also important to note that these benefits are reaped by anyone who comes into contact with the project which includes owners, occupants and society as a whole.

These benefits do not come without a cost however. Green buildings cost more both to design and to construct when compared to conventional buildings. The cost of designing a LEED certified building is higher for several reasons. One reason is that sustainable construction principles may not be well understood by the design professionals undertaking the project. This could require time to be spent on research. Some of the finer points of LEED certification (especially those which demand a higher-than-orthodox standard of service from the construction team) could possibly lead to misunderstandings between the design team, construction team, and client, which could result in delays. Also, there may be a lack of abundant availability of manufactured building components which meet LEED standards. Pursuing LEED certification for a project is an added cost in itself as well. This added cost comes in the form of USGBC correspondence, LEED design-aide consultants, and the hiring of the required Commissioning Authority (CxA)-- all of which would not necessarily be included in an environmentally responsible project unless it were also seeking LEED certification.

Often when LEED certification is pursued, the initial construction cost of the project will be higher than the current industry standard. However, these high initial costs can be effectively mitigated by the savings incurred over time due to the lower-than-industry-standard operational costs which are typical of a LEED certified building. Additionally, economic payback may come in the form of employee productivity gains incurred as a result of working in a healthier environment. Studies have suggested that an initial up front investment of 2% extra will yield over ten times the initial investment over the life cycle of the building.

Although the deployment of the LEED Standard has raised awareness of Green Building practices, its scoring system is skewed toward the ongoing use of fossil fuels. More than half of the available points in the Standard support efficient use of fossil fuels, while only a handful are awarded for the use of sustainable energy sources. Further, the USGBC has stated support for the 2030 Challenge, an effort that has set a goal of using no fossil fuel green house gas emitting energy to operate by 2030.

In addition to focusing on efficient use of fossil fuels, LEED focuses on the end product. For example, because leather does not emit VOCs they are deemed healthy for environments, disregarding the use of extremely harmful chemicals in the process of tanning leather. Other products that do not use harmful chemicals and focus on more sustainable production do not earn any additional points for their attention to environmental concerns.

Certification

Different LEED versions have varied scoring systems based on a set of required "prerequisites" and a variety of "credits" in the six major categories listed above. In LEED v2.2 for new construction and major renovations for commercial buildings there are 69 possible points and buildings can qualify for four levels of certification:

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

Point rating

Points have been distributed as follows. Required "prerequisites" in each category receive no points.

Sustainable sites (14 points)

Construction Activity Pollution Prevention Plan (required)
Site selection (1 pt)
Development density and community connectivity (1 pt)
Brownfield redevelopment (1 pt)
Alternative transportation availability (3 pts)
- Public transportation access (1 pt)
- Bicycle storage and changing rooms (1 pt)
- Parking capacity and carpooling (1 pt)
Reduced site disturbance (2 pt)
- Protect or restore open space (1 pt)
- Development footprint
Stormwater management (2 pts)
- Rate and quantity (1 pt)
- Treatment (1 pt)
Reduce heat islands (2 pts)
- Roof (1 pt)
- Non-roof (1 pt)
Light pollution reduction (1 pt)

Water efficiency (5 points)

Water efficient landscaping (2 pt)
- Reduce by 50% (1 pt)
- No potable use or no irrigation (1 pt)
Innovative wastewater technologies (1 pt)
Water use reduction (2 pt)
- (20%)
- (30%)

Energy and atmosphere (17 points)

Fundamental commissioning (required)
Minimum (code) energy performance (required)
Fundamental Refrigerant Management (required)
Optimize energy performance by 14% (new) or 7% (existing) buildings (2 pts, required as of June 26, 2007)

Energy optimization (8 pts in addition to the 2 required above)
On-site renewable energy (3 pts)
Ozone depletion (1 pt)
Measurement and verification (1 pt)
Green power (1 pt)

Materials and resources (13 points)

Storage and collection of recyclables (required)
Building reuse (3 pts):
- 75% reuse of building structure and shell excluding windows (1 pt)
- 100% reuse of building structure and 50% of walls, floors, ceilings (1 pt)
Construction waste reuse or recycling (by weight or volume) (2 pts):
- 50% diversion (1 pt)
- 75% diversion (1 pt)
Reuse of existing materials (by cost) (2 pts)
- 5% salvaged or refurbished materials (1 pt)
- 10% salvaged or refurbished materials (1 pt)
Recycled content (2 pts)
- Criteria vary in recent versions of LEED, but depend on value of pre- and post-consumer recycled content (2 pt)
Use of local materials (2 pts)
- Fabrication shop within 500 miles (800 km) of building site and raw materials source within 500 miles (800 km) of building site, 10% (1 pt) or 20% (+1 pt).
Rapidly renewable materials (1 pt)
Certified Wood (1 pt)

Indoor environmental quality (15 points)

Minimum indoor air quality (required)
Environmental tobacco smoke control (required)
Outdoor air delivery monitoring (1 pt)
Increased ventilation (1 pt)
Construction indoor air quality management (2 pt)
Indoor chemical and pollutant source control (1 pt)
Controllability of systems (2 pt)
Thermal comfort (2 pt)
Daylight and views (2 pt)

Innovation and design process (5 points)

Points for this category are awarded above and beyond the core 64 points, and are described as rewarding strategies that go above and beyond the criteria for those points. Examples for up to four design points using steel construction include structure as finish, structure as plumbing, lightweight materials, recyclability, and potential for disassembly.

[edit] Process

LEED certification is obtained after submitting an application documenting compliance with the requirements of the rating system as well as paying registration and certification fees. Certification is granted solely by the Green Building Council responsible for issuing the LEED system used on the project.

Recently the application process for new construction certification has been streamlined electronically, via a set of active PDFs that automates the process of filing the documentation.

Directory of LEED-certified projects

The Green Building Council provides an online directory of LEED-certified projects.

LEED versions

Different versions of the rating system are available for specific project types:

LEED for New Construction: New construction and major renovations (the most commonly applied-for LEED certification)
LEED for Existing Buildings: Existing buildings seeking LEED certification
LEED for Commercial Interiors: Commercial interior fitouts by tenants
LEED for Core and Shell: Core-and-shell projects (total building minus tenant fitouts)
LEED for Homes: Homes
LEED for Neighborhood Development: Neighborhood development
LEED for Schools: Recognizes the unique nature of the design and construction of K-12 schools
LEED for Retail: Consists of two rating systems. One is based on New Construction and Major Renovations version 2.2. The other track is based on LEED for Commercial Interiors version 2.0.

LEED has evolved since its original inception in 1998 to more accurately represent and incorporate emerging green building technologies. LEED-NC 1.0 was a pilot version. These projects helped inform the USGBC of the requirements for such a rating system, and this knowledge was incorporated into LEED-NC 2.0. The present version of LEED for new construction is LEED-NC v2.2. LEED also forms the basis for other sustainability rating systems such as the Environmental Protection Agency's Labs21.

LEED is a popular guide for green building in the United States and it is developed and continuously modified by workers in the green building industry, especially in the ten largest metro areas in the U.S.; however, LEED certified buildings have been slower to penetrate small and mid-major markets. Also, some criticism suggests that while the LEED rating system is sensitive to local environmental conditions, its checklist system does not vary enough with regard to local environmental conditions; for instance, a building in Maine would receive the same credit as a building in Arizona for water conservation, though the principle is more important in the latter case. Another complaint is that its certification costs require money that could be used to make the building in question even more sustainable. Many critics have noted that compliance and certification costs have grown faster than staff support from the USGBC.

In 2003, the Canada Green Building Council received permission to create its own version of LEED based upon LEED-NC 2.0, now called LEED Canada-NC v1.0.

For existing buildings LEED has developed LEED-EB. Recent research has demonstrated that buildings which can achieve LEED-EB equivalencies can generate a tremendous ROI. In a recent white paper by the Leonardo Academy comparing LEED-EB buildings vs. data from BOMA’s Experience Exchange Report 2007 demonstrated LEED-EB certified buildings achieved superior operating cost savings in 63% of the buildings surveyed ranging from $4.94 to $15.59 per square foot of floor space, with an average valuation of $6.68 and a median valuation of $6.07.

In addition the overall cost of LEED-EB implementation and certification ranged from $0.00 to $6.46 per square foot of floor space, with an average of $2.43 per square foot demonstrating that implementation is not expensive, especially in comparison to cost savings. These costs should be significantly reduced if automation and technology are integrated into the implementation.

LEED and carbon trading

It is expected that LEED-NC 3.0 will include a requirement for a carbon footprint (carbon building print) and a significant reduction of GHG (green-house gases) beyond a baseline level. The reduction in carbon dioxide must be measured based on the direct and indirect carbon dioxide and equivalent reductions. These include emissions related to the consumption of grid delivered electricity, on-site combustion of fossil fuels, and fugitive refrigerant emissions.

The efforts to quantify emission and reductions in emissions will be in an effort to monetize the climate change externality in the same way that a Kyoto Clean Development Project (carbon project) does. ITC Hotel Sonar Bangla Sheraton & Towers in Kolkata, India is the only green building project in the world to monetize the reductions that acts as the main precedent for this type of project.

Professional accreditation

Green building professionals can become LEED accredited through the LEED Accredited Professional Exam. This accreditation enables an individual to facilitate the rating of buildings with the various LEED systems. Professional Accreditation is administered by the Green Building Certification Institute. GBCI has an education provider program that provide seminars and lectures to prepare candidates to take and pass the LEED AP Exam.

Other national rating systems

Australia: Nabers / Green Star
Brazil: AQUA / LEED Brasil
Canada: LEED Canada/ Green Globes
China: GB Evaluation standard for green building
Finland: PromisE
France: HQE
Germany: DGNB
Hong Kong: HKBEAM
India: GRIHA (national green rating)/ LEED India
Italy: Protocollo Itaca
Mexico: LEED Mexico
Netherlands: BREEAM Netherlands
New Zealand: Green Star NZ
Portugal: Lider A
Singapore: Green Mark
South Africa: Green Star SA
Spain: VERDE
United States: LEED/Green Globes
United Kingdom: BREEAM