Comments on: Is LEED Still Leading the Way for Green Building?

By: Greenbuild Kicks Off Next Week | Inhabitat - Green Design Will Save the World

Fri, 12 Nov 2010 23:32:10 +0000

[...] a hundred learning opportunities and a sea of vendors, the conference goes beyond an education in LEED standards and applications. Among the speakers will be Natural Capitalist’s Paul Hawken, [...]

By: Andrew Michler

Andrew Michler — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 16:05:31 +0000

Posted by Ira Goldschmidt, P.E., LEED-AP

Yes LEED is clearly still leading the way for Green Building; if not, then tell me what other program has eclipsed LEED…none. OTOH, is LEED doing what it should be doing to make LEED buildings truly “Green”? Not as much as I’d like. Why? – like any other bureaucratic endeavor participants have learned to “game” system to minimize what they need to do to meet the requirements rather than to truly meet the spirit and intent of the program. I also don’t think that many very green credits are given enough weighting (i.e., points) vs. some that appear to be more marginally “green”…don’t have any hard facts about this – it’s just what my gut reaction is to the point system.

Is LEED in danger of losing its leadership position? Possibly. ASHRAE has recently released standard 189.1 for “…the Design of High Performance, Green Buildings”. It was created jointly w/ the USGBC so it is very much modeled on LEED but puts it into code-friendly language. And since ASHRAE is an ANSI-sanctioned standards-making organization this document may eventually become a model code that would be adopted by building departments. If that happens then LEED pretty much goes bye-bye…a loss I hope the USGBC would see as a victory for Green Buildng. But this is probably years away….

By: affectingchange

affectingchange — Tue, 25 May 2010 04:20:51 +0000

LEED doesn’t do enough to ensure that buildings are passively designed and sustainable. Too much point chasing deludes people into thinking that they have done the right thing, and pats them on the back for trying. In reality, we all have to do much more with much less. Tweaking a building’s orientation, shading devices, insulation levels and mechanical efficiency just won’t get us to net positive.

We have start designing our buildings so that they work for us, and provide a shelter that nearly gets us to our comfort zone without massive amounts of mechanical systems. LEED does not encourage this path.

It does, however, encourage us to be a conscience creator, and to make decisions about the building that we are co-creating. But we can’t rest on those laurels.

By: DianaDriscoll

DianaDriscoll — Mon, 24 May 2010 22:46:27 +0000

Relative to Europe, LEED and the entire sustainability industry is still in its infancy. LEED continues to evolve and improve, and I wouldn’t encourage throwing out the baby with the bathwater. Most everyone is encouraging stricter energy monitoring, and LEED is headed that way. I continue to support LEED – a non-profit that invites input, and it is not regulated by the government. I’d recommend that if someone has anything to offer to improve LEED, that they do so! Help and comments are always welcome, and many brilliant volunteers give much of their time and knowledge to help it grow and improve constantly. Is LEED perfect? Absolutely not. Is it changing and growing? You bet it is!

By: auzzie22314

auzzie22314 — Mon, 24 May 2010 22:05:55 +0000

One way to mitigate this criticism of LEED would be to incorporate the Passive House standard into LEED. In order to achieve Platinum, Passive House energy reductions would have to be achieved. Below Platinum the HERS score reached would determine the points achieved in the energy component.

By: dantiston

dantiston — Mon, 24 May 2010 20:34:09 +0000

Well, LEED could be fixed to advocate for passive temperature control and other non-traditional climate control mechanisms. LEED could mandate solar panels, long-term installations such as LEDs, or call for long-term building plans and policies. LEED could get rid of their point-based certification process, and rather lay out non-specific guidelines for building, and then certify based on test results and real-world functioning of the building.

By: caseyg

caseyg — Mon, 24 May 2010 20:24:00 +0000

There is opportunity at every phase to decrease the construction/performance of a building. A lot falls to contractors (me included) cutting small corners, where even dismissing a caulk line can cause air infiltration and start the performance down that slippery slope.
Certifications like the up and coming Living Building Challenge are the way to go! LEED must change or fall away, like they have been called to do for years.