LEED certification

(Business model: Green building certification; see pages 49, 50)

The ‘Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design’ (LEED) standard ), administered by the US Green Building Council (USGBC), is one of the largest voluntary green building standards globally. A building can acquire one of the four LEED certification levels: certified, silver, gold and platinum with platinum being the highest rating. Criteria42 for achieving these ratings vary, e.g. between new and existing buildings and different building types such as residential buildings, commercial build- ings and neighbourhood developments.

According to the US Green Building Council’s public database43, there are 45,000 registered and LEED certified building projects worldwide up to 2012. The database shows that more than half of the buildings are privately owned. The remaining buildings are owned by the public sector (institu- tional, for example schools, or government owned). The average size of the buildings in this data- base is around 200,000 gross m2, although most of the buildings are smaller. Almost 90% of all LEED projects are realised in the US. Other countries with LEED certified developments include the United Arabic Emirates, Brazil, Canada, China and India.

The following illustrates three case studies where LEED certification was achieved for new build- ings.

Pearl Place, Maine, US

Pearl Place is a workforce housing project which was completed at the end of 2007. It consists of 60 affordable apartments comprising of a mix of one-, two- and three-bedroom apartments. The pro- ject is owned and was developed by Avesta Housing, which is Maine's largest non-profit affordable housing developer. The buildings in the Pearl Place development were certified LEED Gold in 2008. Energy efficient features of the buildings include super-insulation and a tight building envelope, unit compartmentalization, energy-efficient fixtures, appliances, and mechanical equipment, low- VOC finishes and air-to-air heat exchange. Non-energy related green aspects include the use of high-quality, permanent building materials such as brick and fiberglass and recycling facilities. Rea- sons for pursuing the LEED certification were related to municipal regulations which require build- ing developments that receive funds from the City of Portland to achieve at least LEED Silver certifi- cation. However, according to one of the involved stakeholders one of the greatest benefits gained from the integrated process used was that the development cost approximately the same as other multi-family affordable housing projects in the region. Thus, other developers realized that green buildings do not have to come at an additional cost to most building owners. However, the costs for the certification and required consultants may still pose a challenge to project developers.44

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Criteria for achieving LEED certification fall e.g. into the following categories: Sustainable Sites, Water Efficiency, Energy and Atmosphere, Materials and Resources, Indoor Environmental Quality and Innovation in Design. De- pending on what is being certified, the categories vary, e.g. for LEED for Neighbourhood Development catego- ries such as Neighbourhood Pattern and Design, and Green Infrastructure and Buildings are used.

43

See website http://www.usgbc.org/LEED/Project/CertifiedProjectList.aspx, consulted February 13th, 2012.

44

See pages 50-51 for information on certification costs and potential premiums in terms of sales price or building value of certified buildings. Whilst the cost for a combined design and construction review of a new building of 4.650 m2 or less applying for LEED certification is around USD 2.500, the costs for consultants advising during the project development process on how to achieve certification can be significantly higher.

Moffett Towers, California, US

The Moffett Towers complex is a new office and R&D campus in the center of California’s Silicon Valley. Lot 1 of the development consists of three office towers and two parking garages, totaling 866,000 square feet, in the heart of the complex. Lot 1 achieved LEED for Core & Shell Gold certifi- cation in 2009.

In terms of energy performance, Lot 1 is expected to use 30% less energy than a building which fol- lows the baseline building code. This is achieved through a high-efficiency heating and air condi- tioning system with variable speed fans, a sophisticated project automation system and a high- efficiency lighting design. The fitness center located on the premises uses a solar thermal hot water system for pool heating, which constitutes about 10% of the building’s overall energy usage. How- ever, solar PV systems were considered to be too expensive. The design process was supported by energy modeling which for example demonstrated that due to the site constraints it was not possi- ble to construct all of the buildings according to an ideal north-south orientation. Moreover, the modeling provided criteria which supported the selection of the most efficient glazing to use and of the right amount of insulation required to meet the LEED criteria. Other important sustainability related feature of the project are related to water consumption: the project is designed to use 40% less water than a building that has conventional fixtures installed.

Suzlon One Earth, India

Suzlon, one of the world’s largest wind turbine manufacturers, developed a new office complex for its global headquarters in India, the Suzlon One Earth office complex, which is considered to be among the greenest office buildings in India. It was certified according to for LEED for New Con- struction Platinum certification from the India Green Building Council in 2010. Five percent of its annual energy requirements is generated on-site through conventional and building-integrated PV panels and on-site wind turbines. The remaining electricity requirements are generated through Suzlon’s off-site wind turbines Thus the office complex is technically a zero energy project. Moreo- ver, energy savings are achieved through e.g. the use of LED lighting systems, solar water heating and evaporative cooling. The operating expenses for the evaporative cooling system are more than 20% lower than for a standard air conditioning system and the new system also had lower capital costs. Overall, the buildings’ energy performance per square meter of office space reflects energy savings of more than 45% over conventional office buildings in India. Annual energy audits show that, so far, the energy performance is as planned. With the LEED certification of the project, Su- zlon aims to reflect its goal of promoting clean power globally. And according to the LEED Project Administrator, the project development process was less costly than for commercial structured of a comparable size and led to lower post-commissioning operating costs.