Blog Post

Beyond LEED

An interesting conversation about what lies beyond LEED has been happening over the last few days on the Big Green email list. Some excerpts of the exchange follow. (I've done some editing, and added links. Check the December '07 and January '08 Big Green archives for the complete, unedited exchange.)
  • We have a project where the client is asking us to measure the sustainable aspects of their project beyond the LEED rating system. I'm very familiar with the Living Building Challenge but unfortunately they don't meet the Limits to Growth pre-requisite. I'm interested in hearing other people's experiences and recommendations of using other rating systems — international or domestic.

       —Gail Borthwick, AIA, LEED AP; Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture; Chicago

  • While the Living Building Challenge is a tool with no credits and 16 prerequisites, it can still be used as a benchmark. Consider the benchmarking process as acquiring as many of the petals (page 5 of version 1.2) as possible.

       —Peter Dobrovolny, Commercial Expert, Green Building Program, Seattle Dept. of Planning and Development; LEED A.P., AIA, APA

  • You can always use LEED as the benchmark and go beyond it. You can add the Living Building Challenge to it and strive to meet whatever parts of it you can. To go along with their Living Building Challenge the Cascadia Chapter of the USGBC has also developed a green communities challenge. Meeting LEED plus as many of the prerequisites of the Living Building Challenge is a great next step. The next step in going beyond restorative and living buildings is to design regenerative buildings. As of yet I have not seen a codified system (like LEED is) that benchmarks a regenerative building.

       —Ralph Bicknese, AIA, LEED AP; Principal, Hellmuth + Bicknese Architects; St. Louis, MO

  • I found that NYC has guidelines that go beyond LEED with their "High Performance Building Guidelines" document. Otherwise I have not come across a system that is truly integrative/regenerative of the myriad environmental issues affecting building/site design and construction. This link has a few more useful NYC Documents.

       —Jonathan M. Miller, architect; FCSI, CCS, CCCA, SCIP, AIA, NCARB; Specification Consultant

  • Also well beyond LEED, in NYC see 'Green Schools Guide', required by Local Law 86 for green construction and linked to the NYC schools $13.2 billion five-year capital plan. Also see NY-CHPS.

       —Claire Barnett

  • How about keeping the building sustainable after it's built? This is where the Building Intelligence Quotient rating system developed for the Continental Automated Buildings Association compliments LEED, Green Globes, and Energy Star ratings.

       —David Katz; Sustainable Resources Management Inc., Sustainable Environmental Solutions Inc.; Toronto Ontario

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  • In Australia, the Green Building Council has an Office Existing Building tool in PILOT phase that measures an existing building's overall environmental performance. Another well known tool in Australia is NABERS, for commercial and residential. Finally, just looking at energy usage in existing buildings, ABGR (Australian Building Greenhouse Rating) rates buildings on the emissions they produce as a product of the amount of energy they consume.

       —Joe Karten, LEED AP, Green Star AP; www.greenbuildingworldwide.com

Google the phrase "beyond LEED" for more thought-provoking reading (and a few duds)...

Published January 4, 2008

(2008, January 4). Beyond LEED. Retrieved from https://www.buildinggreen.com/news-article/beyond-leed

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