What’s your point?
by Jonathan McGaha | April 28, 2013 12:00 am
Have you ever found yourself in a situation where a person has gone through a long-winded explanation that has little to do with the current situation and you say, “What’s your point?” This is an abrupt way of telling someone that they have made an exhaustive explanation to something that is irrelevant, even if the information may be found useful at a later date. The USGBC’s LEED rating system is a point-based system where credits within the system have been weighted to reflect the building’s impact on the built and natural environment. When beginning a project that intends to be LEED certified, asking each team member this question should not be viewed as a way of understanding the importance of sustainability that each team member brings to the team. Asking the question, “What’s your point?” determines the cornerstone of the management plan for a successful project.
Sustainable Features and LEED Credits
The project’s success is often judged by how well the delivery team has met an owner’s expectation, so understanding the owner’s needs and wants for a building is critical. When an owner makes a request for a sustainable or high-performance building, the design team leader should ask which sustainable features are most important. Asking an owner which LEED credits are important to them should determine the starting point for the building design.
For instance, owners may be very interested in the building appearance and what statement it makes to those who visit it. Demonstrating a commitment to sustainability may include reducing parking areas, encouraging their employees to carpool to work or use alternative modes of transportation, such as bicycles, mass transit and/or fuel-efficient vehicles. This outward demonstration may also be manifested in the landscape or the management of stormwater that falls and eventually discharges from the site. All of these design elements are addressed in LEED’s Sustainable Sites category.
The investigation continues with the importance of water and energy conservation credits found in the Water Efficiency and Energy & Atmosphere categories. The credits and associated points in these two categories may not be obvious in the building appearance, but will contribute to the reduction in operating costs after construction is complete. Likewise, the materials used in the building construction may not be seen, but many of the materials used contribute to the points within the related Materials & Resources category credit. Owners interested in providing employees with an excellent working environment may also pay particular attention to the credits found in the Indoor Environmental Quality section.
Collaborative Effort
Once the designers understand which LEED credits define an owner’s wants and needs, ask each team member what their point might be. LEED credits can appear to be the responsibility of an individual team member, but in truth, each credit is collaborative, needing the input of multiple disciplines to document. Asking each member what their goal or vision is will allow the project team to work together and create a collaborative goal for obtaining each desired credit.
One example of the interdisciplinary approach is Sustainable Sites credit 5.1: Site Development- Protect or Restore Habitat. On the surface, it appears that achieving this credit is a simple owner decision. The owner dedicates 50 percent of the site area
(excluding the building footprint), or 20 percent of the total site area, to native or adapted vegetation, and the credit is achieved. However, achieving this credit is not that easy. First, the design team must determine if the land was previously developed or a green field. In the case of a green field site, the design team must receive input from the building contractor, because in those cases, the construction activities must be contained into strict limits of disturbance in regards to property lines and building location. Achievement of this credit may also affect the civil engineer’s stormwater design, the architect’s land use for heat island reduction and the landscape architect’s design for outdoor water use reduction.
Another example is Energy and Atmosphere credit number one, which rewards points for a building’s energy efficiency. The higher the efficiency, the more points the team is awarded, up to a maximum of 19 points for a building that is 48 percent more efficient than a normal building. In this case, it may seem that designing a 48 percent more efficient building would be the responsibility of the mechanical and electrical engineers, but it is actually a collective effort of the entire team.
Mechanical systems are typically sized based on the building’s size and use. Other constraints may be the space allocated for housing the equipment and/or the path taken to deliver conditioned air. Lighting fixtures often are selected based on the required lighting levels desired. Other constraints may be the interior appearance of the space and the amount of natural light entering the building through the windows. Designing a building that consumes 48 percent less energy requires a holistic approach to building design. This depends on the building working as one system instead of a collection of individual systems.
The architects must understand the building as it relates to solar orientation and what passive solar techniques can be incorporated to reduce the building’s load. Once the building orientation, size and use have been defined, the mechanical and electrical engineering team can begin to evaluate various systems. Each possible design solution must be validated using an energy model that will help to predict the energy use and possible energy conservation of the building. However, the design of a high-performance building can only go so far. True energy savings are a result of the way the owner operates the building and how the occupants use the building.
The decision to create a LEED certified building requires input from every member of the delivery team, from the owner to the designers, contractors and end users. All play an important part in the delivery of a sustainable or high-performance building and their experience with sustainability will be useful when determining how to achieve LEED credits. So, don’t be afraid to ask the question, “What’s your point?” It will prove valuable to the end result of any LEED certified building.
Thomas Taylor, a 30-year veteran of the construction industry and noted expert on sustainability, is the general manager of St. Louis-based Vertegy. His recent book, “Guide to LEED 2009: Estimating and Preconstruction Strategies,” provides step-by-step information about the LEED 2009 for New Construction process. To learn more about Vertegy or Thomas’ new book, visit www.
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