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Date:

Time:

Lunch (for full-day participants only)
noon - 1 p.m.

Afternoon Session: Nuts-and-Bolts
1 p.m. - 4 p.m.

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Price:

Who Should Attend:

Contractors, Construction Managers, Materials Managers, Architects, Homeowners, and Design Professionals

The New York Times recently had an interesting article, discussing the real world challenges and frustrations with LEED as a scorekeeper for all things “Green”. Greenwash is a serious issue in the AEC industry, as no firm wants to be left behind or be seen as out of the loop as it relates to “green design”. They’re all selling expertise, but a select few are actually delivering real value, and focused input and pricing support, to make LEED a reality in a project.

Just look at the mad rush by GCs to have all their people take the LEED exam to get LEED AP attached to their name. There are many firms that have high percentages of LEED APs, but have yet to actually complete a true LEED project. What does LEED AP really mean, and does it carry weight any more? USGBC responded last year by beefing up it’s credentials and adding yet another acronym to the mix, GBCI - Green Building Certification Institute. They created a tiered system - LEED Green Associate, LEED AP, LEED Fellow - to help differentiate the casual greens from the practicing professionals. They’ve also added a continuing education requirement to the certifications.

But back to LEED 2009 (v3.0)- As of June 27, 2009 - all new projects will be required to use this system of scoring. The big difference over past scoring systems is the way in which points are weighted. Credits will weighed based on the degree to which the strategy improves the environmental and human health. They’ve also regionalized some of the credits, so for the first time geographic location has an impact on how the credits are interpretted. For example, in Florida you can get a point for decreased reliance on municipal wastewater plants and/or utilization of solar technologies while in Michigan points are available for improving the quality of stormwater into the Great Lakes.

What does this have to do with Energy ? Preliminary findings of a USGBC study to be released this summer of 25 LEED certified buildings in Illinois show no correlation between LEED ranking and actual energy savings. Under the new version, LEED 3.0, owners of LEED-certified buildings will be required for to record energy usage, report it to the USGBC, and have a plan in place to improve energy savings if needed.

The baseline energy saving requirements are also tightened to 10 percent over the ASHRAE standard for 2007 for new buildings, and 5 percent for renovations.

On the right track - now we just have to ensure that owners can afford it.

I’m preparing to teach my first class this weekend at IIT on Integrated Building Delivery - it’s now part of a new graduate program, called a Masters of Integrated Building Delivery. Check out the link below for more information:

http://www.iit.edu/arch/programs/graduate/ms_arch_ibd.shtml

And if you’re not already on LinkedIn - check out my profile: http://www.linkedin.com/in/aarongreven

thanks.