An Introduction To Leed And Ways To Achieve Leed Certification

LEED stands for The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. It is a Green Building Rating system set up by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). This system sets certain standards on how environmentally viable is a particular construction. This council was founded in the year 1988. Since then it has worked on over 14,000 projects in the United States and 30 other countries totally covering 1.062 billion sq. ft. of development area. It is internationally recognized and gives a third-party verification on buildings and communities.

The main aim of this organization is to keep a check on factors like energy saving capability, water efficiency, carbon dioxide emission reduction, improved indoor environmental quality, preservation of resources and sensitivity to their impacts. LEED Is applied to both residential and commercial complexes. It works during the whole lifecycle of building construction, including design and construction, operations and maintenance, tenant fit out and significant retrofit. Besides these LEED also aims at promote integrated and whole-building design practices, recognize environmental leadership in the building industry, stimulate green competition, increase consumer awareness of green building advantages and modify the construction market.

LEED certification is obtained when the particular building is claimed to be eco-friendly by satisfying the above criteria. This practice not only advocates design and construction process that increases profitability but also reduces negative environmental impacts of the various constructions and enhances the occupants health and well-being. LEED certification that includes a third-party commissioning process, guarantees you, your clients, your peers and the public at large that your building has achieved appropriate environmental objectives and that it is performing as designed. Certification not only opens doors to an environmentally safe habitat but also allows you to take complete benefits from a growing number of state and local government incentives and might also encourage press interest in your project.

There are levels of certification that are Certified (26-32 points), Silver (33-38 points), Gold (39-51 points)and Platinum (52-69 points) that correlates to the number of credits obtained in five green design categories such as sustainable site, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials and resources and indoor environmental quality. Amongst the various projects covered by LEED are new commercial constructions, major renovation projects, interiors projects, and existing building operations. There is another affiliate for LEED called the LEED for Neighborhood Development that extends its benefits and serves the buildings and constructions in the neighborhood.

In order to get your LEED certification, the first and foremost step that you need to take is to set a target as to what level of LEED certification are you aiming for and what is your overall budget. Higher levels of LEED certification, like LEED Platinum, do need significant financial investment and should be thus budgeted accordingly. Take necessary steps to see that both the environmental and the economic factors that help building your LEED certified construction goes hand in hand. Make sure that the entire project team is focused on meeting your LEED goals within your estimated budget.