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What is LEED and what does it mean to me?
by Jennifer Turchin, NCARB, LEED AP BD+C, AIA
The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) is a 501 c3 non-profit corporation comprising of 78 local affiliates (chapters), over 18,000 member companies and organizations, and more than 140,000 LEED Professional Credential holders, USGBC is the driving force of an industry that is projected to contribute $554 billion to the U.S. gross domestic product from 2009-2013. USGBC leads an unlikely diverse constituency of builders and environmentalists, corporations and nonprofit organizations, elected officials and concerned citizens, and teachers and students. The USGBC is not a governmental organization.
Buildings in the United States are responsible for 39% of CO2 emissions, 40% of energy consumption, 13% water consumption and 15% of GDP per year, making green building a source of significant economic and environmental opportunity. Greater building efficiency can meet 85% of future U.S. demand for energy, and a national commitment to green building has the potential to generate 2.5 million American jobs. In order to measure the performance of building design, construction, and operations, USGBC created a third party rating system. The LEED, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, rating system first was designed to address commercial new construction buildings, but after over ten years of certifying buildings, rating systems now exist for all different commercial and residential size projects. There are also rating systems that address different uses of buildings such as LEED for Schools and LEED for Retail (currently in pilot). Currently, over 35,000 projects are participating in the LEED system, comprising over 4.5 billion square feet of construction space in all 50 states and 91 countries. LEED is a voluntary program that has been adopted as a standard by many jurisdictions and organizations, but it is not a building code or government program.
Green building refers to the design, construction, and operation of buildings in an environmentally friendly way. LEED promotes a whole-building approach to sustainability by recognizing performance in five key areas of human and environmental health: sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials and resources, and indoor environmental quality as well as recognizing innovations in design and/or operations and regional issues. The rating systems are broken down into credits in each of the categories and within those credits are points. Credits are weighted depending on their ability to impact different environmental and human health concerns with more points given for strategies that contribute the most to energy efficiency and CO2 reductions. The 2009 LEED Rating systems have a total of 100 base points in the five categories with an additional 10 for innovation and regional priority available for certification. The following number of points designates which level of LEED certification can be achieved:
40 – 50 points: LEED Certified
50 – 60 points: LEED Silver
60 – 79 points: LEED Gold
80 + points: LEED Platinum
There have been numerous studies completed regarding the cost of LEED buildings. Davis-Langdon published a study in 2007 called “The Cost of Green Revisited.” This was an update to a study started in 2004. The study found that there was no significant difference in average cost of construction for green buildings as compared to non-green buildings. They additionally found that many projects are achieving LEED certification within their projected construction budgets and in the same cost range as non-LEED projects. And although construction costs had risen dramatically from 2004 to 2007, projects constructed during that time frame were still attempting and achieving LEED certification with little or no additional cost above the basic construction. In another study, done in 2008 by Jay Spivey and Andy Florence called, “Does Green Pay Off?”, shows that costs of going green vary by local market, the number of vendors and experience in the local market, developer/owner experience and project and/or portfolio scale. However, they did note that both Energy Star and LEED certified buildings are commanding higher rental rates. So, the bottom line – don’t just assume that because it says LEED, that it will be more expensive, the studies show that there are many variables to determining if there are additional costs related to certification.
As a developer or building owner, there are many benefits to LEED certified buildings. The first are the financial incentives at the federal, state and local level not only for LEED certification, but overall energy efficiency as well. The Energy Policy Act of 2005 allows for a tax deduction to building owners for energy-efficient commercial buildings through 2013. The tax deduction can range from $0.60 per square foot up to $1.80 per square foot for documenting energy performance over a set baseline. At a state level in Nevada, there is a tax abatement for LEED certified commercial buildings, both new construction and existing buildings, that can range from 25% of property taxes for five years up to 35% for ten years depending on level of LEED certification pursued and amount of energy savings. Locally, the City of Las Vegas has a Green Building Rebate Program that offers money towards expedited plans check, permitting fee reduction and up to $10,000 LEED fee refund. Additionally, NV Energy has a utility rebate program for commercial buildings through its Surebet program that provides prescriptive rebates for retrofits or new construction project energy savings measures, and Southwest Gas has an energy efficient equipment rebate program for purchasers of energy efficient natural gas equipment up to 50% of the purchase price. Southwest Gas also has a program that will offset an energy audit for existing buildings up to $5,000.
One of the biggest benefits of LEED certified buildings is the water and energy savings associated with pursuing high performance systems. Water is easily saved through the use of low flow plumbing fixtures such as dual flush toilets, lavatory aerators, and pint flush urinals and efficient landscape irrigation through the use of desert landscaping that requires less water and using drip irrigation instead of sprinklers. Energy savings can be realized through building weatherization, the use of high efficient light sources such as LED and compact fluorescent, and higher efficiency HVAC systems. None of these solutions needs to cost more than their typical counterparts, but they do require a higher level of planning and thought early in design or retrofit projects.
In a nutshell, LEED certification is a voluntary, consensus based system design to help developers, architects, owners, contractors and anyone else involved with the design, construction and operation of buildings, verify that their efforts in sustainability are valid and verified by a third party. There are other rating systems available for this effort, and it is not the only way to go, but it is a great tool to use as a roadmap and an indicator for sustainability in buildings.
Jennifer Turchin is a Senior Project Manager of Energy & Environmental Solutions (e2), a sustainability and green building consulting firm that provides organizations with sustainable solutions to business problems. e2 is headquartered in Pittsburgh with offices in St. Louis and Las Vegas.
