GO GREEN

LEED Certification is the process of converting or developing a structure into a sustainable, energy efficient building by implementing best practices when compared to the norm.  The LEED process entails the entire building operations and maintenance systems.   Policies and procedures are created to evaluate performance from a whole-building operations perspective over its lifetime enabling a standard for what a green building is.

There are 5 categories under LEED:  Sustainable Sites, Water Efficiency, Energy & Atmosphere, Materials & Resources and Environmental Quality.  Innovation in Operations is another category which builds off the 5 main categories.

Under the 5 LEED Categories are certain pre-requisites and credit requirements.  All pre-requisites must be completed and a minimum number of credits must also be completed in order to become LEED certified.  There are different levels of LEED Certification:  Certified, Silver, Gold and Platinum.  To become LEED Certified you must obtain at least 34 points (up to 42), Silver 43-50, Gold 51-67 and Platinum is 68-92.

Benefits

LEED Certified structures significantly reduce environmental impacts through high-performance, market-leading design, construction, and operations practices.  Implementing LEED green building design has additional benefits such as reduced operating costs (energy and water use efficient), increased marketability, better indoor air quality which studies show to increase worker productivity levels, healthier environment and reduce potential liability.  LEED Certified buildings save 10-50% in electricity cost, use less water, and recycle more compared to the norm.  

LEED Certification is comprehensive in scope but simple once in-place.  To learn more go to the LEED page on this site.  If you have questions you can email me, Bryan Lauer, at blauer123@hotmail.com