Energy and Sustainability

Thoughts on Sustainable Design Standards
I stopped by a local building supply store recently to purchase a couple small items for a home project. While there I visited with the proprietor, a friend of mine, on how business was faring. He pointed out the new line of water heaters his store was carrying, explaining to me that he promotes the electric water heaters because of their superior energy efficiency over gas. I listened without interrupting while he explained how, in his training, he had learned that gas is inefficient because heat simply passes out through the flue. I smiled politely and excused myself to make my purchases.

My friends’ well intentioned but false expertise made me think of the difficult terrain the average consumer has to traverse to find the truth (consumer reports) when looking for answers about sustainable design and products. Like shopping for water heaters, shopping for good advice and guidance on sustainable building practices can be daunting and confusing.

Clearly, the US Green Building Council’s LEED (Leadership in Energy and Efficient Design) program is undisputed as North America’s most widely recognized effort to bring order and regulation to thinking in sustainable design. The LEED program bestows different levels of certification on participating projects based on accumulation of credits. These credits are awarded in recognition of a projects’ sustainable design features and capabilities based on pre-established criteria. Credits are awarded in each of five categories; site sustainability, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials and resources, and indoor environmental quality. Projects can earn additional points in a category called “innovation and design”. Under the current version of LEED, projects can apply for LEED certification under a number of different rating systems – each system addressing different project types such as commercial versus residential, or new construction versus remodel. Generally, under the latest version of LEED, a project can earn a maximum of 100 points under the rating system under which it is reviewed. LEED Certification – based on this accumulation of points – will be either certified, silver, gold, or platinum – certified being easiest to achieve taking the fewest points and platinum being the most difficult to achieve requiring the greatest number of points.

USGBC (US Green Building Council), the parent organization responsible for LEEDS, in 2009 established an organization called The Green Building Certification Institute (GBCI). GBCI runs the building certification efforts under the LEEDS rating systems and also runs their professional credentialing program – creating the LEEDS Accredited Professionals that are the approved “experts” when it comes to rating projects under the LEEDS system.

Things can get confusing for the consumer of sustainable design services – just as they can for the unwary water heater consumer – when we put on the binoculars and make a 360 degree sweep of the landscape.

Internationally, there are a growing number of sustainable building programs existing or in development, all designed to guide us down the right path to sustainable design. Each program is slightly different; each comes with its own accredited “expert”. There are also programs designed specifically to accredit experts with no specific sustainable rating system involved. A program called the National Sustainable Building Advisor Program (NasBAP) that began at Seattle Central Community College in Washington State cooperates with LEED and other programs offering rating systems. Under NasBAP a construction industry professional can become a “Sustainable Building Advisor” (SBA), officially recognized as being capable of dispensing sustainable building advice, but not considered an accredited professional under any given rating system.

Sustainable building certification programs available internationally number at least 10, including LEED. Each program seeks to educate on sustainable design issues. Most of these programs have similar content and requirements, or provide information that is similar, and base their certifications of materials and products on third party evaluations. All have scoring programs under which your development can be certified as some level of sustainable or “green” building. Again, nearly all have an accompanying sustainable “expert” accreditation.

Though most programs seek to capture a specific market internationally, some – such as LEED, Green Globes, or Collaboration for High Performance Schools (CHPS) – compete with each other for participants. Each of these programs strives to differentiate itself as the most desirable program to follow when seeking recognition for sustainable design of your building.

USGBC’s LEED program has been most successful at presenting a broadly based, workable and respected process. It has garnered broad support including nods from local, state and federal government agencies which often include LEED as a requirement in development.

Most current LEED Accredited Professionals (LEED AP) earned their accreditation under earlier versions of the LEEDS exam. For most current LEED AP, this meant a round of intense studies culminating in a one and a half to two hour online test that may seem to be as much about specifics of USGBC’s building rating system as it is about sustainable principles. LEED AP’s can include attorneys, marketing professionals, receptionists, product representatives, and – yes; architects and engineers. Under the newly minted LEED v3, LEED accreditation is stair-stepped with an entry level accreditation called “LEED Green Associate”. Only after achieving the basic level of LEED Green Associate can a professional go on to take the test for LEED AP. A level of accreditation called “LEED Fellow” is reserved for the most vaunted and diligent LEED aficionado.

USGBC’s LEED program has done the best at garnering the most support, but even LEED seems to be taking it’s lumps. A recent article in Portland Oregon’s Daily Journal of Commerce points out that the LEEDS program has suffered a significant drop in popularity among architects in the past year or so, suffering a 16% decline in support among architects nationwide compared with prior polling.

My belief is that over the next 5 to 10 years sustainable design measures will be written into our primary building codes. The currently sought after expertise in sustainability and the credentialing that goes with – as we know it today – will pass into history much like the popularity of ADA “expert consultants” waned with the codification of the Americas with Disabilities Act in the late 1990’s. Already this seems to be happening. USGBC has been working with ANSI and partners in state and federal government on some issues. The Green Globes rating system under the Green Building Initiative program (which originated in Canada) according to an April 1, 2010 press release, is working with ANSI to formulate adaptable standards covering commercial buildings. As is often the case, the state of California is leading with new legislation.

In January 2010, California adopted the nation’s first statewide mandatory green building standard; “CALGreen”. This new code, effective in January 2011, slashes water use, mandates the recycling of construction waste, and regulates indoor air quality setting minimum standards for materials in new homes, schools, hospitals and commercial buildings statewide.

It will be interesting to see just how and to what extent our currently existing sustainable building programs such as LEED play a role as green building initiatives are codified nationally and internationally. This is definitely a topic to watch.

If you simply want to follow current news in sustainable development, sustainable products, design and construction methods, the waters are equally muddy. In our office we receive a variety of sustainable design magazines in both digital versions and, if necessary, paper copies. A quick count of titles we’re familiar with shows at least 9 or 10 significant magazines or zines dedicated to the topic. Our favorite titles in house are GreenSource or EcoStructure. These can be great resources for sustainable products, news on legislation related to sustainability, case studies for sustainable designs, and design reviews.

Picture yourself once again back in that building supply store, your eyes resting on a row of gleaming white water heaters. Would you simply act on the advice given then and there, trusting that the training received by the sales person is accurate and making your purchase without doing your own “fact checking”? Maybe so. I can claim to have been guilty of irresponsible impulse buying in the past and will likely do so again.

In the case of shopping for expertise on sustainability, the bottom line is this: it’s easy to get lost in what can be an overwhelming array of sometimes conflicting opinions and information sources. Our advice is that you seek out and establish a relationship with a design professional – preferably an architect - that you can trust. Know the background, history, attitude, skill level and experience of your design professional regarding sustainable issues and sustainable design. Understand where they’re coming from, expect them to endeavor to understand you and your needs in the same way, and get on with the business of establishing a working a relationship.