From the Editor

First, the untruth: Your LEED certification will be revoked if your energy performance falls a few percentage points below what you initially modeled (and earned points) for. USGBC took one on the chin a few weeks ago with this NY Times piece about how some LEED-certified buildings may not be quite as efficient as originally thought. Certainly, that’s nothing new – it’s been a long-running complaint for those who love to take potshots at LEED.

But what has been happening lately – especially with USGBC’s new Building Performance Initiative (BPI) announcement (see In the News below) — is that some in the industry wrongly think that the BPI program will lead to certification being revoked for poor performance. Some have even suggested that building owners should start preparing their lawsuits against architects or engineers if certification were to be taken away. (There actually has been a smattering of lawsuits for not achieving a promised level of certification, including this one which was settled in March.)

No doubt many in the industry would love to see certification revoked for failing to live up to the predicted performance, but many also argue that the model is just that — a prediction that does not guarantee future results, for several reasons (building use changes, HVAC system-use change, etc.)

So what’s the truth about BPI and certification?  The Building Performance Initiative has actually been a part of the LEED 2009 program since the new suite of rating systems was released in April. If you look in the Minimum Program Requirements (MRP) section of any of the LEED rating systems, you’ll find a stipulation that the project team agrees to report energy and water data for a period of five years. That requirement is actually intended to be a built-in study of the performance data of LEED-certified, not necessarily that USGBC is watching over your shoulder, ready to yank your plaque at a moment’s notice.

Yes, certification will be revoked if you fail to comply with that MRP requirement — but USGBC is promising to make reporting as easy as possible, setting up a Website to report, and even working with utilities in some cases to automate the process.

Finally, it is worth pointing out that USGBC is acutely aware of the issue of some LEED-certified buildings not being as energy efficient as they were designed, and is taking steps to remedy this “loop hole” (as some LEED critics call it). There’s a credit in LEED for New Construction for ongoing measurement and verification, which is a step in the right direction. 

As always, I’d love to hear from you. What’s your take on the ruckus these last few weeks over building performance and LEED certification?  Do you have a LEED building that is actually performing better than what was modeled?  Please e-mail me at the link below! 

Cheers,

Greg Zimmerman, editor  

Green Strategies
Let LEED by Your Guide
For any facility project, the LEED green building rating system offers many signposts for sustainability.  

In the News
USGBC to Assess Building Performance
The Building Performance Initiative will give building owners, designers and others interested in green building a clearer picture of how LEED-certified buildings actually perform

Green Toolkit
Building Commissioning
The U.S. Green Building Council built and maintain this site, which includes an interactive guide to help green schools, advice on how to capitalize on incentives and rebates, and several videos and links to case studies. 

Green Pulse

Click here to respond to the poll. If you are not yet a member of MyFacilitiesnet.com, please click here first to register, then sign into your account, and then click here to vote.

GreenTech Conference & Exposition

Tax Deductions for LEED

Also, registration for Facility Decisions is now open. The show is being held Sept. 22-23, 2009, at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

If you’re attending this year’s show, please consider attending a special preconference workshop titled Getting Started With LEED-EB. The session will take place on Sept. 21 from 1 p.m to 4:30 p.m. with presenter Michael Arny of the Leonardo Academy. The cost of the session is $99.