Interesting and useful information about LEED
United States of America have started to become very conscious about the environment these days. The establishment of tall buildings has really done great help in developing societies, but the fact that they negatively affect environment cannot be ignored. So, to make sure that these buildings do not affect the environment, a new certification program called LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) was developed. If you are in the process of building tall buildings in United States then they will have to be LEED certified. To make sure that the buildings that you are about to build gets certified you will have to make sure that you keep 5 areas of environment in mind. These areas are materials selection, indoor environmental quality, water savings, energy efficiency and sustainable site development.
It does not matter what kind of buildings you are about to be built they have to be certified by LEED. So, whether you are making schools, church or office buildings, you have to get it certified by LEED. This program was developed to teach and inform the architects, builders, engineers, real estate professionals, constructor managers, government officials, facility manager and interior designers about how the structure should be built to prevent it from harming other people and environment.
This program has a certain rating system based on which it rates whether the structure is environmental friendly or not. The LEED rating is not only about the outer structure and how it externally affects environment only. It also takes the operation, interior construction and design, and neighborhood situation into consideration as well. It rates the structure based on five categories.
- Green home design and construction
- Green building operations and maintenance
- Green building design and construction
- Green neighborhood development
- Green interior design and construction
These factors are considered when a certain structure is rated. The main aim of the LEED is to go green and save environment. So, you will have to keep these points in mind while building your structure.
The LEED program gives certain point to the structure. For your structure to be certified it must get 40-49 points. If it receives any points less than this then it won't be certified. There is some chance that your structure might receive much higher points than these. Based on the points, your structure might get silver, gold and platinum certification. If it receives 50-59 points, then it will receive silver certification. If it receives 60-79 points then it will receive gold certification and if it receives 80 points and above then it will receive platinum certification. All these certifications are handed out by GBCI (Green Building Certification Institute).
The GBCI will provide LEED credits while rating the structure. These credits will be given to two categories: construction application and design application. The design credit for the design application will be given to the work of architect and engineer. The construction credit for the construction application will be given to the work of contractor.
To participate in the LEED program, the project team will have to fill the credit form and upload all the necessary supporting documents. They will also have to pay a certain amount of fee. This fee will depend on the total building area. The whole certification process and application review will be done online.
It has been found that the LEED certified buildings utilize their resources more efficiently and effectively than the building which are not LEED certified. The ratings for various structures are different. The rating system of office building is different from the rating system of the home. Its main aim is to encourage people to design and build structures that consume less energy, save water and does not affect environment negatively. Its main aim is to encourage people to come up with green buildings. Even the government of United States of America is applying LEED during the construction of their public buildings.
