The U.S. Green Building Council is reporting rising interest in its program for awarding existing facilities with an eco-friendly certification. Still, says the group, many people have the wrong idea about what it takes to be green:

For starters, many assume that its program for current facilities–the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for Existing Buildings (LEED-EB)–focuses on the use of state-of-the-art building technologies. “Nothing could be further from the truth,” Brendan Owens, the LEED program manager for technical support, tells Maintenance Solutions. “What we’re trying to do in the existing buildings program is recognize good operations and maintenance practices that have an environmental and sustainable slant to it.” Instead of encouraging the installation of costly and experimental technologies, the LEED-EB program urges facilities to consider proven systems that “may cost less and perform just as well,” says Owens.

In fact, maintaining a green building should not cost a cent in the long run. For example, Emory University’s Goizueta School of Business facility has found that being green could bring in more, well, green. The building earned a gold rating from the LEED-EB program in January. According to Robin Smith, the commissioning manager for Emory University in Atlanta, “it doesn’t cost anything to fix buildings. You actually make money doing it.” For instance, he says, Emory discovered through the program that it was simultaneously heating and cooling the building. “Thanks to the LEED-EB program, we discovered we were wasting $151,000 in energy costs a year. We spent about $94,000 to fix the building. We recouped those costs in less than a year, and now we’re making money,” he tells Maintenance Solutions.

Another important thing to know about LEED-EB is that it doesn’t endorse specific companies or products in any part of its rating system. Instead it cites recognized standards. For example, for green cleaning chemicals, it mentions two standards–Standard GS-37, by the independent non-profit organization Green Seal, and the California Code of Regulations’ low volatile organic compounds.

A fourth must-know fact about LEED-EB is that it evaluates a building’s performance using actual consumption data–in contrast to LEED for new construction which makes its analysis from the building model. This means that building managers must be prepared to devote a lot of time and effort to gathering and verifying the facility’s energy performance. “It’s a lot tougher than people think,” says Emory University’s Smith. In fact, Smith’s department had to establish new practices to track energy consumption, especially since the university didn’t monitor the Goizueta building’s individual energy consumption but instead grouped it with other facilities. “We had to meter all sources of energy in the Goizueta building including electricity, chilled water, steam and regular water,” Smith tells Maintenance Solutions. “It took us a while to set up those monitoring systems.”

Finally, it’s also important to note that applicants seeking the certification can earn the 85 available points in any one of six categories, including sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials and resources, indoor environmental quality, and innovation. “One of the great things about LEED is that the point structure is very flexible,” comments Owens to Maintenance Solutions. “Facilities are not penalized for being unable to obtain points in one area of the rating system and might be able to gain certification for succeeding in other areas. That ability to get points in any one section–and really get recognized for the performance in a specific area that the building can excel in–makes the rating system applicable to just about every building that can meet all the prerequisites.” So far, out of more than 100 buildings that have been registered for LEED-EB certification, 16 have secured it.

Source:

The ‘Greening’ of Existing Facilities
Renee Gryzkewicz
Maintenance Solutions, February 2005
www.facilitiesnet.com/ms/article.asp?id=2583