Posted September 14, 2010
As more and more jurisdictions start to mandate sustainable building and construction practices into their building departments, will LEED become obsolete? At Swanson Rink, we do not believe that LEED will fade from the design and construction industry, but we do believe that for LEED to remain meaningful it needs to expand its mission from just certifying design to also providing actual research and support for the built environment.
When the USGBC was founded in 1993 it served a mission that had no organized support. Today, the USGBC and the LEED certification system is the standard bearer for sustainability and green building movements across the globe. Its initial success at raising sustainable awareness that caused a move to action took the construction world by storm. However, today we find numerous organizations and governmental bodies that have incorporated sustainable practices into their normal operating practices and procedures. If the local governing jurisdictions require sustainable design and construction practices, then the need for a separate certification process becomes diminished.
There have always been a percentage of projects that follow the USGBC sustainable guidelines without actually seeking certification. With an economic downturn and building codes that mimic the same requirements that are in the USGBC guidelines, there has been an increase in the percentage of projects that meet sustainable guidelines without seeking LEED Certification.
In a recent instance, I was asked to do research on building department requirements for the City of Los Angeles. As in most California jurisdictions, the City of Los Angeles requires all commercial buildings (public and private) over 50,000 square feet to be designed in accordance to the USGBC LEED Certified Level, including submittal of a checklist during the building permit review process. However, these buildings do not require formal certification. If the project is registered and proven to be LEED Silver certified, it can lead to faster building permit processing as well as reduced plan review fees.
This led to my next question: Just how many jurisdictions institute LEED requirements? There are five levels where LEED has become an active force in the design industry:
Cities
•According to a USGBC 2010 publication, there are currently 243 localities (168 cities, 42 counties and 33 towns) that have various policies and incentives that require projects to meet the requirements of LEED or seek formal certification. In many cases the policies apply to not only public buildings but also privately owned commercial buildings.
•Specific cities that have requirements for public and commercial buildings to prove LEED certification qualifications (but not seek formal certification) include Los Angeles, CA; Boulder, CO; Seattle, WA; Austin, TX; Portland, OR; Cook County, IL, and the County of Arlington, VA.
States
•34 state governments have their own ordinances and policies with the majority of them mandating all government and most public buildings to achieve LEED Silver certification.
•Many states have their own sustainable programs and guidelines such as California’s Title 24 http://www.energy.ca.gov/title24/ ; http://www.documents.dgs.ca.gov/bsc/CALGreen/2010_CA_Green_Bldg.pdf
Federal Agencies
•14 federal agencies or departments also include LEED initiative programs and legislation policies.
•The Department of Energy, US Air Force, US General Services Administration and US Environmental Protection Agency require a minimum rating of LEED Silver.
Incentives and Grants
•Some cities such as Portland and Seattle offer financial incentives for both private and public projects that are pursuing LEED.
During my research, I found it interesting that most cities and states, even if it is not mandated to register for LEED on a commercial project, have green building guidelines. Examples include the City of San Francisco and City and County of Boulder, which spin off of the LEED guidelines by integrating Energy Efficiency, Water Reduction, and Waste Reduction into the design. There are also federal tax incentives and rebates that strive for LEED guidelines (without actually registering the project) with more focus on energy and water savings.
Within the new and more sustainably conscious environment that exists today, the USGBC may find its primary role as a resource to local jurisdictions and as a testing agency for individual performance, and leave certification to the local authorities.
(Coming up next … Is LEED Silver the New Gold?)