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Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) involves many different aspects of building operations to help reduce the building’s impact on the environment. This is achieved through several different methods ranging from site selection to energy and water use reduction, indoor air quality improvement, waste reduction, promotion of alternative transportation and alternative fuel vehicles, storm and waste water management, heat island reduction of roof and pavement to green cleaning and building management, just to name a few. A “green building” is not just about green roofs and rain gardens. The owner of a building has many possible credit choices to obtain LEED Certification.
LEED Certified Buildings not only reduce the negative environmental impacts, but also reduces operating costs, enhances building marketability, increases worker productivity, and reduces potential liability (as it relates to indoor air quality concerns). Not only do owners of LEED Certified buildings see a reduction in operating costs, but LEED Certified buildings are more valuable and are rented/sold faster because of the desire for occupants to be in a LEED Certified building. Currently, the lending industry is shifting toward offering several financial incentives to LEED Certified buildings and current legislation is promoting financial/tax incentives and rebates for implementation of energy reduction techniques.
Buildings in the United States consume more than 30% or our total energy use, 60% of our total electricity use and 5 billion gallons of potable water per day just to flush toilets! Did you know recycling of one ton of paper avoids cutting of 17 trees and saves three cubic yards of landfill space? Many of the sustainable practices involved in LEED have a synergistic affect (reducing impacts associated with initial production, consumption and waste). Sustainable building operation is not a trend; it is a necessity as our energy costs increase, our natural resources decrease and our environment is further compromised.
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