Making
Your Building USGBC Compatible
The USGBC
or the US Green Building Council is aimed at promoting the creation of more
ecologically responsible (green) buildings. Green buildings are often thought
of as environment-friendly but commercially un-sustainable buildings. However,
this is largely a misconception. Developing your commercial building as a green
building and making it USGBC-compatible means incorporating designs/technologies
that are aimed at being environmentally responsible along with promoting
sustained lower cost of operations, i.e. profitability.
Green
buildings are high-performance buildings wherein productivity soars but not at
the cost of making the environment suffer. There have been many interpretations
of about being USGBC-compatible. In the current scenario, the US Green Building
Council often uses the terms ‘green’ and ‘sustainable’ with very flexible
interchangeability.
LEED: USGBC’s Green Building
Initiative
USGBC has
created an innovative rating system called the LEED — Leadership in Energy and
Environmental Design. This is a system where existing buildings, whether institutional or commercial, are rated
across a pre-defined range. The LEED system then awards certain points
depending upon the level of environmental-performance exhibited by the
building’s sustainable designs. The LEED system is very exhaustive in its
approach and uses nearly 34 different criteria to evaluate a building’s ‘green’
performance. The points are awarded in six categories:
- Sustainability of the site
- Innovation & Design Process
- Efficiency of water usage
- Environmental quality maintained indoors
- Energy & Atmosphere
- Judicious use of Materials/Resources
LEED
Certification — Based on the number of points calculated during the LEED evaluation
process, every building gets a LEED certification. There are broadly four
levels across which a LEED certification is given. Besides the existing energy
conservation methods within the building, the propensity to increase the level
of sustainable practices is also measured. The USGBC LEED initiative uses a
number of criteria to establish the level of energy optimization achieved, such
as:
- Energy use and emissions from energy
- Water conservation practices
- Waste reduction practices
- Overall productivity and interior building health
The USGBC
LEED certification has become a nationally recognized way of judging a
building’s sustainable energy use and even has international recognition. Buildings
that display the most comprehensive use of energy optimization designs and a
tendency to incorporate more energy-saving measures get the LEED Platinum certification
(a score of 52+ points).
Upgrading To USGBC Standards
Although,
there are a number of energy optimization solution vendors who offer services
to make buildings worthy of receiving LEED certifications, most of them fail to
deliver?
Why?
·
Most of them are unable to provide a constructive cost
analysis. Sometimes, an established facility needs to undergo an overhaul to
reap sustained profits in the long term. This means that vendors should be able
to compare the pricing of green options in terms of cost-recovery over a period
of time.
Example
-This is particularly true in cases of installing commercial solar panels,
which might be a bit expensive to purchase but offer huge energy savings over
the next few years.
·
Some green building solution providers are unable to
recommend measures that may not be the most obvious choice, but offer equal
productivity. Dealing with such incompetent vendors means that a business is
asked to purchase finished, upgraded models which turn out to be very
expensive. However, experienced vendors are able to recommend budgeted green
upgrades like lighting retrofits or alterations in lighting designs. Other such
affordable greener measures include:
·
Use of light reflectors to increase natural day-lighting
·
Downsizing of the HVAC system
·
Developing an under-floor air distribution mechanism
along with cool-roof system
Only experienced
Sustainable Building Solution providers are able to ensure that buildings maintain
their energy optimization targets, i.e. long-term green performance. As a
result, businesses are able to document complicated issues such as quality of
the indoor air, increased productivity and reduction in emissions. The
preciseness of such analysis helps the business mangers to budget their future upgrades
that are aimed toward increased USGBC compatibility.
For More Information Check Out the following links:
Energy Efficiency Audit , Solar Energy and Solar Energy Grants
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