Thanks to my friends at dMass (www.dmass.net), I came across an interesting blog post related to the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental design) dilemma, entitled “Is LEED No Longer in the Lead?”. http://www.triplepundit.com/2011/01/leed-longer-lead/
“It seemed like a good idea at the time.” Is that what they will be saying about the LEED standard for green buildings, a few years from now? Was it perhaps a bit ahead of its time when it was first developed back in 1998? Has our collective understanding of what it takes to make a building truly sustainable evolved over the past few years to the point where a different standard is needed?
Although LEED has raised awareness, it has become a flawed brand. Achieving LEED certification has become a “green sainthood” of sorts. Just as there’s no single definition of “sustainable”, there’s no single, foolproof certification that a building is “good” for the environment. There are just too many variables, and too few of them can easily be measured or quantified. LEED, ASHRAE, EPA Energy Star and other benchmarking systems all have their pros and cons.
LEED attempts to address sustainability issues beyond energy efficiency. The LEED process can be a great means to really dive into a design and make sure that everything is optimally designed. Sadly, it can also be reduced to foloowing a checklist and looking for loopholes. The fact that a 4800 sf luxury home in the Hamptons can become LEED Platinum certified (http://www.hamptonsgreenalliance.org/house/index.html) speaks to a very narrow concept of sustainability. (Dare I say it’s ridiculous?) Could the factory that produces individually wrapped plums become LEED-certified? Absolutely. Would it be an environmentally beneficial building? Yes as an alternative to a poorly designed prune-wrapping plant, but LEED doesn’t answer the question of whether we need a prune-wrapping plant. The LEED rating system isn’t designed to answer that question. It rates the building, that’s all.
Is LEED “garbage”, as some detractors claim? No, but we should be wary of the of the instant green mantle that a LEED certification can bestow. No certification of buildings, individuals or institutions – can replace intelligent, comprehensive and independent thinking.
January 9, 2011 at 11:12 AM
I think LEED has done a great job of raising awareness about responsible sustainable building. I think it is the responsibility of the real estate industry to provide a more efficient housing supply and use a variety of different certifications to do this.