INGENIEUR
spiked upward, everyone started to wonder about
the wisdom of relying so heavily on fossil fuels for
transportation and buildings.
Besides the media buzz about eco-friendly
buildings, builders are becoming more educated
on the long-term cost reductions created by
more efficient energy usage and the reduction
or even outright elimination of toxins in building
materials. Up until recently, however, building
green usually meant building at a higher cost.
But even those premiums are beginning to drop.
The US Green Building Council (USGBC) came
up with the concept of the Leadership in Energy
and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system
to establish a method to identify and quantify the
green content of the building.
The Basics of LEED
The LEED Building Rating Programme is, in the
words of the USGBC “a national consensus-based,
market-driven building rating system designed to
accelerate the development and implementation
of green building practices. In short, it is a
leading-edge system for designing, constructing,
and certifying the world’s greenest and best
buildings.” LEED works so well because it is simple
to understand. LEED is divided into five categories
related to siting, water conservation, energy,
materials, and indoor environmental quality, plus
an innovation and design category. Each category
contains a specific number of credits; each credit
carries one or more possible points. A project
that earns enough points (26) can become “LEED
Certified,” or up the ladder to Silver (33), Gold
(39), and Platinum (52 or more points). Some
categories have prerequisites that must be met,
or points cannot be earned in that category.
About 15% of new building owners of green
buildings can state that their properties are, at
least in theory, environmentally superior to at
least 85% of the contemporary buildings in the
market. Of course, Silver, Gold, or Platinum status
conveys even more prestige. The LEED brand
has already become a marketing distinction for
a number of certified projects, especially those
with Silver or Gold ratings. Like the catalytic agent
that speeds up a chemical reaction without itself
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being consumed, LEED has precipitated enormous
activity in the real estate community without
losing any of its potency. LEED has certainly lived
up to its goal to “accelerate the development and
implementation of green building practices.
Human and Economic Benefits Of Green
Buildings
Are green buildings healthier for occupants than
conventional buildings? If so, does this benefit
translate into improved worker productivity,
greater creativity in problem solving, more
efficient task-handling, perhaps even lower
health insurance costs for employers? Are green
buildings more “attractive” to workers, thus
improving morale and enabling the recruitment
and retention of high-calibre employees? Do green
schools produce better student performance? Do
patients in green hospitals recover more quickly?
Do green retail stores ring up higher sales than
their traditional counterparts? These and related
questions were first asked in the 1980s and
1990s when “sick building syndrome” (SBS)
in offices and workplaces was brought to the
public’s attention. Volatile organic compounds
(VOCs) from carpeting and furniture, inadequate
air circulation, poor lighting, disgusting mould
build-up and disruptive temperature variances
— all were contributing to nausea, respiratory
problems, skin rashes, lethargy, headaches, and
numerous other health concerns. Public outcry
over sick building syndrome led to improvement
in building design and maintenance, although
SBS, as it came to be known, has hardly been
conquered (which is why the Green Building
Council has launched its LEED pilot programme
for existing buildings). For the purposes of this
article, however, the discussion necessarily
must focus not on worst-case “sick” buildings
but on conventional buildings in comparison to
high performance buildings. According to the
output of a study, productivity in the new building
increased by 16%, with the personal controls
alone accounting for a 3% gain. In health care,
dramatic improvements in patient outcomes
have been reported for hospitals participating in
sustainable design projects.