 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
| |
 |
CRC News
| CRC Advisor Archives: - Newsletter 02, 2/09 - Chicago's coolest offices - Newsletter 01, 9/08 - Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) Phone System |
______________________________________________________________________
LEED v3 is Here!
If you are planning any construction or rehab project, you should be familiar with LEED. On
April 27, 2009, United States Green Building Council (USGBC, www.usgbc.org) launched
LEED v3, the third version of LEED or Leadership in Energy and Environmental
Design.
What is LEED?
LEED is an internationally recognized green building certification system, providing third-
party verification that a building or community was designed and built using strategies aimed
at improving performance across all the metrics that matter most: energy savings, water
efficiency, CO2 emissions reduction, improved indoor environmental quality, and
stewardship of resources and sensitivity to their impacts.
Developed by the USGBC, LEED provides building owners and operators a concise
framework for identifying and implementing practical and measurable green building design,
construction, operations and maintenance solutions.
LEED is flexible enough to apply to all building types – commercial as well as residential. It
works throughout the building lifecycle – design and construction, operations and
maintenance, tenant fitout, and significant retrofit. And LEED for Neighborhood
Development extends the benefits of LEED beyond the building footprint into the
neighborhood it serves.
What is LEED v3?
This new version attempts to take advantage of new technologies and advancements in
building science while prioritizing energy efficiency and CO2 emissions reductions. LEED v3
consists of three main components:
1.) LEED 2009: Technical advancements to the LEED rating system
LEED 2009 is not a “tear down and rebuild” of the LEED that exists in the market but rather
a reorganization of the existing commercial and institutional LEED rating systems along with
several key advancements. The LEED 2009 Rating Systems consists of the following rating
systems or categories:
1. New Construction rating system
2. Core and Shell rating system
3. Schools rating system
4. Existing Buildings: Operations and Maintenance rating system
5. Commercial Interiors rating system
LEED 2009 includes three major enhancements to the LEED rating system:
harmonization, credit weightings, and regionalization.
Harmonization
Credits and prerequisites from all LEED commercial and institutional rating systems have
been consolidated and aligned, drawing on their most effective common denominators, so
that credits and prerequisites are consistent across all LEED 2009 rating systems.
Necessary precedent-setting and clarifying information from Credit Interpretation Rulings
(CIRs) were incorporated into the rating systems. LEED for Homes and LEED for
Neighborhood Development will not be changed under LEED 2009.
Credit weightings
The second major advancement that comes with LEED 2009 is that credits will now have
different weightings depending on their ability to impact different environmental and human
health concerns. With revised credit weightings, LEED now awards more points for
strategies that will have greater positive impacts on what matters most – energy efficiency
and CO2 reductions. Each credit was evaluated against a list of 13 environmental impact
categories, including climate change, indoor environmental quality, resource depletion and
water intake, among many others. The impact categories were prioritized, and credits were
assigned a value based on how they contributed to mitigating each impact. The result
revealed each credit’s portion of the big picture, giving the most value to credits that have the
highest potential for making the biggest change. The credits are all intact; they are just worth
different amounts. As a result, LEED 2009 will operate on a 100-point scale.
Example: The proximity of a building to public transportation allows for building
occupants to utilize alternative transportation methods which in turn has impacts
associated with fossil fuel depletion, land use, acidification, ozone depletion, smog
formation, ecotoxicity and overall human health effects caused by reducing single-
occupant vehicle use. LEED for New Construction 2009 has increased the point value
of this credit.
Regionalization
Through USGBC’s regional councils, chapters and affiliates, regionally specific environmental
issues were identified. For a project’s specific location, six LEED credits have been
prioritized because they address the specific environmental issues. The project will be
awarded up to four extra points (one point per credit) for earning the priority credits.
Example: Rural Michigan: To incentivize the preservation of prime agricultural land,
reduction of light trespass into neighboring natural habitats, and minimizing the
amount and improving the quality of stormwater into the Great Lakes.
2.) LEED Online: A new and improved tool for project certification
LEED Online is the tool LEED project teams use to manage the LEED registration and
certification processes. The new version of LEED Online is designed to be faster, smarter
and a better user experience. It is built to be scalable and more robust, both through
improved design and a more intuitive user interface as well as through greater help
capabilities, better communication between project teams and certifying bodies, and
upgrades that respond to the changes in the LEED 2009 rating system. In addition to
delivering significant performance, functionality and usability enhancements, it allows
continuous system improvement over time and provides a solid platform from which LEED
can expand and grow for years to come.
3.) Building Certification Model
The new building certification infrastructure, based on ISO standards, is administered by the
Green Building Certification Institute (GBCI) and 10 new certification bodies for improved
capacity, speed and performance. Well-known and respected for their role in certifying
organizations, processes and products to ISO and other standards, the new LEED
certification bodies include:
ABS Quality Evaluations, Inc.
BSI Management Systems America, Inc.
Bureau Veritas North America, Inc.
DNV Certification
Intertek
KEMA-Registered Quality, Inc.
Lloyd’s Register Quality Assurance Inc.
NSF-International Strategic Registrations
SRI Quality System Registrar, Inc.
Underwriters Laboratories-DQS Inc.
Under LEED v3, the project certification process moves to the Green Building Certification
Institute (GBCI), an independent non-profit organization established in 2007 with the support
of USGBC. Working together with the third-party certification bodies, GBCI will deliver a
substantially improved, ISO-compliant certification process that will be able to grow with the
green building movement.
USGBC continues to administer the development and ongoing improvement of the LEED
rating system. USGBC also remains the primary source for LEED and green building
education.
Please give us a call if you are thinking about LEED certification for your next
project.
LEED v3 is Here!
If you are planning any construction or rehab project, you should be familiar with LEED. On
April 27, 2009, United States Green Building Council (USGBC, www.usgbc.org) launched
LEED v3, the third version of LEED or Leadership in Energy and Environmental
Design.
What is LEED?
LEED is an internationally recognized green building certification system, providing third-
party verification that a building or community was designed and built using strategies aimed
at improving performance across all the metrics that matter most: energy savings, water
efficiency, CO2 emissions reduction, improved indoor environmental quality, and
stewardship of resources and sensitivity to their impacts.
Developed by the USGBC, LEED provides building owners and operators a concise
framework for identifying and implementing practical and measurable green building design,
construction, operations and maintenance solutions.
LEED is flexible enough to apply to all building types – commercial as well as residential. It
works throughout the building lifecycle – design and construction, operations and
maintenance, tenant fitout, and significant retrofit. And LEED for Neighborhood
Development extends the benefits of LEED beyond the building footprint into the
neighborhood it serves.
What is LEED v3?
This new version attempts to take advantage of new technologies and advancements in
building science while prioritizing energy efficiency and CO2 emissions reductions. LEED v3
consists of three main components:
- LEED 2009: Technical advancements to the LEED credits and points.
- LEED Online: An upgrade to LEED Online that is faster and easier to use, featuring
new help options. - Certification model: An expanded certification infrastructure based on ISO
standards, administered by the Green Building Certification Institute (GBCI, www.
gbci.org) for improved capacity, speed and performance.
1.) LEED 2009: Technical advancements to the LEED rating system
LEED 2009 is not a “tear down and rebuild” of the LEED that exists in the market but rather
a reorganization of the existing commercial and institutional LEED rating systems along with
several key advancements. The LEED 2009 Rating Systems consists of the following rating
systems or categories:
1. New Construction rating system
2. Core and Shell rating system
3. Schools rating system
4. Existing Buildings: Operations and Maintenance rating system
5. Commercial Interiors rating system
LEED 2009 includes three major enhancements to the LEED rating system:
harmonization, credit weightings, and regionalization.
Harmonization
Credits and prerequisites from all LEED commercial and institutional rating systems have
been consolidated and aligned, drawing on their most effective common denominators, so
that credits and prerequisites are consistent across all LEED 2009 rating systems.
Necessary precedent-setting and clarifying information from Credit Interpretation Rulings
(CIRs) were incorporated into the rating systems. LEED for Homes and LEED for
Neighborhood Development will not be changed under LEED 2009.
Credit weightings
The second major advancement that comes with LEED 2009 is that credits will now have
different weightings depending on their ability to impact different environmental and human
health concerns. With revised credit weightings, LEED now awards more points for
strategies that will have greater positive impacts on what matters most – energy efficiency
and CO2 reductions. Each credit was evaluated against a list of 13 environmental impact
categories, including climate change, indoor environmental quality, resource depletion and
water intake, among many others. The impact categories were prioritized, and credits were
assigned a value based on how they contributed to mitigating each impact. The result
revealed each credit’s portion of the big picture, giving the most value to credits that have the
highest potential for making the biggest change. The credits are all intact; they are just worth
different amounts. As a result, LEED 2009 will operate on a 100-point scale.
Example: The proximity of a building to public transportation allows for building
occupants to utilize alternative transportation methods which in turn has impacts
associated with fossil fuel depletion, land use, acidification, ozone depletion, smog
formation, ecotoxicity and overall human health effects caused by reducing single-
occupant vehicle use. LEED for New Construction 2009 has increased the point value
of this credit.
Regionalization
Through USGBC’s regional councils, chapters and affiliates, regionally specific environmental
issues were identified. For a project’s specific location, six LEED credits have been
prioritized because they address the specific environmental issues. The project will be
awarded up to four extra points (one point per credit) for earning the priority credits.
Example: Rural Michigan: To incentivize the preservation of prime agricultural land,
reduction of light trespass into neighboring natural habitats, and minimizing the
amount and improving the quality of stormwater into the Great Lakes.
2.) LEED Online: A new and improved tool for project certification
LEED Online is the tool LEED project teams use to manage the LEED registration and
certification processes. The new version of LEED Online is designed to be faster, smarter
and a better user experience. It is built to be scalable and more robust, both through
improved design and a more intuitive user interface as well as through greater help
capabilities, better communication between project teams and certifying bodies, and
upgrades that respond to the changes in the LEED 2009 rating system. In addition to
delivering significant performance, functionality and usability enhancements, it allows
continuous system improvement over time and provides a solid platform from which LEED
can expand and grow for years to come.
3.) Building Certification Model
The new building certification infrastructure, based on ISO standards, is administered by the
Green Building Certification Institute (GBCI) and 10 new certification bodies for improved
capacity, speed and performance. Well-known and respected for their role in certifying
organizations, processes and products to ISO and other standards, the new LEED
certification bodies include:
ABS Quality Evaluations, Inc.
BSI Management Systems America, Inc.
Bureau Veritas North America, Inc.
DNV Certification
Intertek
KEMA-Registered Quality, Inc.
Lloyd’s Register Quality Assurance Inc.
NSF-International Strategic Registrations
SRI Quality System Registrar, Inc.
Underwriters Laboratories-DQS Inc.
Under LEED v3, the project certification process moves to the Green Building Certification
Institute (GBCI), an independent non-profit organization established in 2007 with the support
of USGBC. Working together with the third-party certification bodies, GBCI will deliver a
substantially improved, ISO-compliant certification process that will be able to grow with the
green building movement.
USGBC continues to administer the development and ongoing improvement of the LEED
rating system. USGBC also remains the primary source for LEED and green building
education.
Please give us a call if you are thinking about LEED certification for your next
project.
The CRC Advisor
The CRC Advisor
A Newsletter from Chicago Realty Company
A Newsletter from Chicago Realty Company
Newsletter 03, 9/09