I watched a TV show on a LEED school this week. It talked about a school that had been built and the “green” concepts used to build the school. Some of them were site orientation (good if you have that choice on the buildings lot),extra extra energy efficient windows (always a choice but it might not save money) , the decision to not use air conditioning but to use earth tubes (no discussion of mold or humidity or comfort issue in this mid east coast location), a fascination to me , with re using old wood, (but no discussion of the costs to find, transport, remill, install and paint and repaint and repaint and repaint and the gas used for the painters to drive back and forth to paint the old wood over time).
There was a lot of talk about integration, and coordination, but there did not seem to be much new technology – even hay bales were promoted in the 70s. No discussion of smaller or tighter homes etc. I was unimpressed. Are there other green programs that compete with LEED? Maybe I missed something.
Discussion Forum
Discussion Forum
Up Next
Video Shorts
Featured Story
This thoughtfully designed home preserves the character of its neighborhood while maximizing space for a growing family through careful attention to scale, rooflines, and material choices.
Featured Video
Highlights
"I have learned so much thanks to the searchable articles on the FHB website. I can confidently say that I expect to be a life-long subscriber." - M.K.
Fine Homebuilding Magazine
Fine Home Building
Follow
-
Fine Homebuilding
Dig into cutting-edge approaches and decades of proven solutions with total access to our experts and tradespeople.
Start Free Trial Now -
GBA Prime
Get instant access to the latest developments in green building, research, and reports from the field.
Start Free Trial Now
Replies
You've pretty much seen through to the core: LEED is probably better considered as 'religion,' rather than 'science.' Apart from the recycling aspects, it attempts to force behavior changes (for example, deliberately reducing parking, so as to force you to take the bus).
"Integration" and "co-ordination" are simply catchy phrases that really mean 'submit your desing criteria and project management to our social engineering.'
I suspect that, as more folks learn the inns & outs of LEED, that the warm and fuzzy acceptance will quickly disappear. While we all love Bambi, and 'saving the planet' has such a nice sound to it, I doubt many of us strive to live in an old urban-core high-rise, and ride our bikes to the bus station.
in our area (Portland) LEED is almost defacto standard in the commercial world. In residential not so much. NAHB has rolled out thier program. There are a bunch of local programs that are some variation of the LEED deal.
This is the dominant program in residential in Portland
http://www.earthadvantage.com/
These guys are very involved in the local HBAs to promote the program, but also educate the builders. LEED has none of that. Just take your money on each house and charge for the classes.
In our specific case I'm encouraging builders to use the EA program instead of LEED. LEED requires all material removed from the jobsite to be documented and weighed (or estimated) individually. So our trucks have to put only the debris from the LEED house in the truck and go directly to the recycle center. Under the EA program we could combine loads and take it to the recycle center. Same material going to the same recycle center. 30% more cost.
IMO the best programs have some sort of outside testing of the product at the end. Without the test of the building then everything will be on the honor system. I'm going to go out on a limb and say that probably would not work for long. (LOL)
Edited 4/27/2009 11:21 am ET by Scrapr
Think of LEED like the current President. Not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but a pretty good step in the right direction.
Basing anything soley on input via television is a dicey proposition at best, so take what you saw with a pound of salt.
OTH, most of the concepts that the USGBC via the LEED program promotes are not new. What is new is the programatic application and tracking of the various conservation measures. The system is evolving and getting better. Some who do nothing but crtiticise out of ignorance will not improve the process.
I know some of the IAQ and HVAC issues are incomplete and or contradictory to good practice. Some are not applicable everywhere. Some ideas are simply wrong.
Point is, the discussion has begun. While imperfect, the USGBC and LEED has started the discussion in earnest.
You want to make real comments? Try doing so as a participant.