Is LEED Working?

Remember LEED?  The U.S. Green Building Council’s “Leadership in Energy and Environmental and Design” program?  Of course you do.  So do we.  We write about LEED frequently.  We urge our readers to learn about it, qualify for it, and practice it.  We hope to help you in that endeavor, since LEED seems to be the green building program of the future, and we’re all for that.

But it always pays to keep your eyes and ears open, not to mention your mind, and that’s why we’re calling your attention to this: “The Green Façade.”   It’s a November 25 article in The Atlantic, America’s venerable magazine of literature, ideas, politics, and culture.  If you’re high on LEED, you might want to read this article for its nuanced analysis of what LEED is actually accomplishing and how the program might best move forward.  Because, to put it starkly, LEED in its current form may not be doing what it’s most prominently supposed to do: saving energy.

The article’s author, Atlantic senior editor Jennie Rothenberg Gritz, starts by noting the green movement’s epochal trajectory toward center stage in American culture and politics.  But then she sounds the note that signals it’s time to rein in our enthusiasm and pay attention to hard facts: two studies released in fall 2009 question the overall effectiveness of LEED as it’s currently being deployed and practiced.  And these studies come from within the official LEED community itself.

One of them comes from Rob Watson, who, in addition to editing GreenerBuildings.com, from which we ourselves have quoted numerous times, is the man who actually developed the LEED rating system.  Watson’s November report, says Gritz,

included impressive data on market trends, land impact, and water efficiency for LEED projects.  When it came to energy savings, though, the numbers were discouraging.  “Some LEED buildings are not performing as expected given their design and technology elements,” Watson stated bluntly.  “This is an area of controversy and a source of great attention by the U.S. Green Building Council.”

The other study came out in late October and was issued by the Chicago chapter of the USGBC and its partners, and its findings were nothing short of shocking. Again, Gritz summarizes:

The study looked at the median efficiency of LEED-certified buildings in Illinois and found that they were performing only 5 percent better than their non-LEED counterparts throughout the region.  Fewer than 30 percent of the buildings were eligible for the government’s ENERGY STAR label.  And the Platinum and Gold LEED buildings were no more efficient than those that had Silver or basic LEED certifications (emphasis added).

Does the expression “Whoops?” seem out of order here?

So, in light of these findings, what’s to do?  Gritz points out several salient facts, including the way the current LEED system may need a retooling, since it lets people in search of credits “reach for low-hanging fruit” in the form of modifications that don’t directly affect energy use or carbon emissions, and including the increasingly recognized truth that LEED for existing buildings, or LEED-EB, actually produces the best energy results.  (We ourselves recently noted the attention being paid to existing buildings as credible sources for energy savings, in “Not So Fast: Old Buildings — Not Just New Ones — Contribute Vitally to Clean Energy Economy.”)  This, ladies and gentlemen, shows promise.

We scour industry headlines and the news in general as we go about our task of bringing you this blog, and so we see the patterns that are currently lining up.  Right now, for instance, a story has just come across the transom from San Diego Business Journal that talks about new state standards in California for achieving LEED silver.  Oh, and here comes another one, this time from Automated Buildings.  It’s an interview with Nathan Rothman, founder and CEO of Optimum Energy LLC, in which he shares his experiences and overall impressions of this year’s Greenbuild show in Phoenix in November.  The title?  “Increasing Acceptance of LEED.”  Stories like this appear every day, sometimes by the dozens, and they are indeed important.  And yet here’s that Atlantic article and the two reports it talks about, telling us to hold on, get a grip, and be smart, because all may not be as it seems.

We’re listening, and we hope you are, too.

Matt Cardin
Goodway Blogging Team

Image Credit: PhotoXpress

Looking to boost your HVAC career?

Download our 2012 HVAC Career Development Map or visit our Learning Center.