ShareThisWho Do You Follow When you LEED? (part 2)
-Reprinted from Construction ink | The Magazine of the Construction Association of South Florida
Gerry Klein | Director of Communications for the Construction Association of South Florida
gklein@casf.org
This post is a continuation of Part 1 – Who Do You Follow When you LEED?
Interesting Gibberish #1
(stuff you should already know)
Developed by a volunteer team of architects, engineers and manufacturers beginning in 1995, the LEED system rates buildings based on criteria in six categories:
1. Sustainable site
2. Water use
3. Energy
4. Materials
5. Indoor air quality
6. Design innovations
As hard as it is to find anyone who says “green” is only a trend, it’s also very difficult to find someone with a heartbeat who bitterly opposes the idea that buildings should be more efficient, have less environmental impact and be better for society. Though LEED has the potential to achieve amazing goals, there are still many issues that prevent the system from being a common practice. Participating companies who have “green” experience and are heavily invested in LEED certification programs often complain about the confusing documentation requirements, underestimated costs, and lack of solid, scientific research backing the process. In addition, a growing number of corporate folks from all types of companies and industries honestly feel that architects, developers and owners are using LEED and other trendy “green marketing” terms to help promote and sell properties without any real significant benefit in terms of resource and energy efficiency. Based primarily on good, old-fashioned greed, many are simply shouting from the back of the bandwagon to make it appear they actually care about saving energy and the numerous environmental problems facing the planet. That’s where a lot of this anti-LEED movement stuff started in the first place and made people start to question if the eco-friendly building trend was really inflated hype with little or no substance. LEED certified buildings have the ability to use less electricity, less water, and improve indoor air quality, but there are NO GUARANTEES any improvements or cost-savings will occur. Wouldn’t it be refreshing if “honesty” was the primary component when sitting through a 3-hour and 20 minute “green marketing” seminar about how “green buildings” are going to save the planet?
“This brand new, state-of-the-art, 10-story energy-efficient hotel features cellulose insulation with borates, active solar heating panels, daylighting in every room on every floor, geothermal heat exchange technology, it’s own wind powered turbine station, an integrated pest management system, harvested rain water and an on-site indigenous animal petting zoo, dairy farm, slaughter house and gift shop. But for some reason, our electric bill is still higher than one of our other hotel properties that was designed and built in 1927 by ~ cross-dressing, alcoholic European gentleman who was later convicted of fraud when it was discovered that his architectural license was actually printed on the back of a Diner menu.”
Now that is refreshing and honest! We need to hear that more often.
Another major argument is that once a LEED certification is granted, it does not have to be renewed. That means that if the indoor air quality of a LEED building does not change – the building can still call itself LEED certified. This loophole could possibly allow sneaky, low-life’s to market their properties as “green” without the building having any environmental benefit at all. Opportunistic lawyers (a.k.a. Premium Grade A Sneaky Low-lives) are also well aware that liability issues could come up due to developers and contractors calling their buildings “eco-friendly” or “green”. A savvy tenant who takes the time to do their homework may discover that no indoor air quality or energy savings has occurred at all. And that, my friends is what drives the bus through the window of our lawsuit happy society. For developers, owner groups and general contractors, this could mean countless legal headaches and unleash dark storm clouds over the “green building” industry for years. Talk about a really bad public relations image. It would make the Chinese drywall issue seem like a leaky faucet.
Stay tuned for Part 3 of this 5-Part series…
Editor’s Note:
Gerry Klein is the Director of Communications for the Construction Association of South Florida and has over 23 years of marketing experience. He handles all Marketing, Advertising and Public Relation Services, as well as, individual marketing services for all CASF members. If you would like to arrange a seminar or confidential meeting to help your business grow, Gerry can be reached at gklein@casf.org.
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