By Kevin Vida
LEED is an acronym for The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. It was developed by The US Green Build Council (USGBC) and provides standards for green sustainable construction. Since its inception in 1998, LEED has spread to all 50 US States and 30 countries. The best part about LEED is that it allows all the stakeholders from the owners to the contractor to participate in an open process where the technical criteria proposed by the LEED committees are reviewed at every stage of a project.
People Who sit for and pass the written exam are recognized as LEED Accredited Professionals with the (AP) acronym after their name. Certification of green buildings is a great benefit which in part provides the result of implementing a green design. LEED certified buildings are a better environment for work and living, which is shown to contribute to higher moral in employees. The Council compiled a long list of strategies related to improving air and water quality to reducing waste. The reduction in impacts to the environment in addition to all of the economic and occupant benefits provide a good argument to traditional building practices.
However, Green buildings cost more in design and construction costs. The last project I quoted for LEED as an alternate for design added $50,000 to the Design contract alone. The cost of designing a LEED certified building is higher because of all the additional submissions and certifications the A/E has to do because we do not have a LEED AP in-house to be the gate keeper for the submissions to USGBC. Commissioning also plays a role in the cost. However, I view this as money well spent and will help avoid costly problems at occupancy.
On the construction side of LEED, most of the time, the additional costs can be offset in the form of life cycle cost of the building, the economic gains will be noticeable in lower operational costs and employee productivity. Another resource I found on line was a book called Building Technical Manual for Green Building design. It contained information that gets into the nuts and bolts of green building. [http://kpvida-leedexam.blogspot.com]
Article Source: LEED Certification For Beginners
