August/September 2008
LEED Rating System
C O N T E N T S
ED Corner: Chapter Progress and Five Year Anniversary Celebration
LEED 2009: Regional Credits
The Business of Green: Take Control of Your Lighting Costs
Materials & Resources: What You Need to Know About Environmentally Friendly Paint
Water Efficiency :Reduce Potable Water Through Grey Water Systems
Walking the Talk: FSC Certification for Chapter LEED Study Guide
Regional Update: Metro Denver Branch Leadership
VISION
Promote responsibility for Colorado's environmental legacy.
MISSION
Advance and promote sustainable planning, design, construction and operation of the built environment through education, improving industry guidelines, policy advocacy, and information and resource sharing.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Tom Hootman, President
RNL Design
Dana Kose, Vice Chair
M.A. Mortenson
Megan Christensen, Secretary
Bovis Lend Lease
Jim Bradburn, Treasurer
RMH Group
Mike Lowell, Advocacy Chair
US GSA
Bobby Molinari, Membership Chair Hyatt Select
Josh Radoff, Director At Large
YRG Consultants
Sue McFaddin, Director At Large Seven Generations
Ted Caulkins , Education Chair
Silvertip Integrated Engineering
Daniele Loffreda, Communications Chair
Plateau Enviro Associates
Conor Merrigan, EGB Chair
C2 Sustainable Development Consultants
Deb Kleinman
Executive Director
Colorado Building Green is the official newsletter of the U.S. Green Building Council – Colorado Chapter, and is published bi-monthly. If you are interested in submiting a story, ideas or other information for publication, please contact the editor at dgloffreda@msn.com
Region Specific Considerations in LEED 2009
Addtional credits provided in the Innovation in Design section
By Ben Stanley, YRG Consultants
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You’ve got a project in Colorado and you know that there are some aspects of sustainability which have added importance in our region. Water use for example (did it rain in July?) or energy efficiency (coal fired power plants = mucho global warming gases) are major issues environmentally for our state.
LEED 2009 and Region Specific Considerations
The next version of LEED, LEED v2009, approaches the problem of regional considerations by allowing for specific additional credits in the Innovation in Design section. In total, LEED 2009 will increase the total points possible in the ID section from five to ten points. Included in these ten are four points that are available for Region Specific issues, equating to four percent of the total 100 points possible in LEED 2009. The core of the rating system will remain un-regionalized and the prerequisites and credits will therefore still be the same across all regions.
Colorado Region Specific Points
In Colorado, regional specific points are divided into seven different sub-regions across the state, accounting for varying demographics and environmental concerns (urban, mountains, Western Slope, etc.). For each of these regions, as is true for all regions across the country, six credits from the core of the rating system that are available to all projects everywhere, will be set as eligible bonus region-specific ID credits. Any project that achieves an eligible Region Specific credit will earn a “bonus” point in the ID section up to the four bonus point limit available for Region Specific credits.
As an example, let’s assume that credit WEc1.2 Water Efficient Landscaping – No Potable Water Use – is selected as an eligible regional specific credit for projects in urban settings on the eastern plains (official final designation of regional credits is expected with the release of LEED v2009 in January). In this scenario, if a project in Denver is able to meet the requirements of this credit, they will achieve the standard two points available as specified in the new rating system, plus an additional point in the ID section for a total of 3 points. Projects in, say, Portland, OR, on the other hand, may not be eligible for this regional ID bonus credit and would have to settle for a two point cap for this credit.
The finalization of regional credits for Colorado will be facilitated by a task force organized by the USGBC Colorado Chapter, which expects to finalize eligible credits this month for submittal to USGBC National for final approval. Results are expected to be published with the release of LEED 2009 this coming January.
For more information about this process or the likely regional specific credits for your region, please contact Shahnaz Jaffari – the regional credits coordinator for Colorado – at tech@rmmi.org.