Is LEED Broken?
April 23, 2014
Today's tip of the day is about what we can learn from LEED's critics.
Oftentimes, the natural response to criticism is to get defensive, dig in your heels, and then counterattack. But that is usually less productive and more polarizing. To avoid such a reaction and instead open a dialogue is the key finding common ground and moving forward.
With that in mind, one of the more fascinating sessions at Greenbuild 2013 was titled "What We Can Learn From LEED's Critics." The session, presented by Tristan Roberts of BuildingGreen, Rob Watson of ECON Group (and who carries the "Father of LEED" moniker), and Pamela Lippe of E4 Inc., broke LEED criticisms into three main categories, and then examined the validity of each, and how USGBC has responded.
The first criticism is that the LEED process is broken — this covered both the rating system development process, as well as the certification process. To address the first, USGBC says it has maintained an open, iterative process to the rating system development process, as evidenced by the more than 20,000 public comments over six comment periods, and then the 86 percent approval when LEED v4 was put to a vote. They've also drastically cut down on the time between submission and certification — 85 percent of projects are ruled on within 25 days of submission. That’s a vast improvement.
The second criticism is that LEED is not vigorous enough. You hear this one a lot from the vocal critics who say a LEED certified building isn't any better than a traditional. USGBC is working diligently to compile more LEED data — now requiring all LEED registered projects to submit five years of water and energy data — to show that LEED buildings are, indeed, more environmentally responsible than traditional. During this discussion, Rob Watson unleashed the quote of the conference: "If your building isn’t performing, it's your fault. Not LEED's." How true.
The third criticism is that LEED is too complex and too expensive. You commonly hear this from folks who think LEED certification is simply "buying a plaque" and that the constant updates to LEED make it impossible to keep up. No one would deny that LEEDv4 is a giant step forward in terms of rigor, but that's what is needed to move the market, says USGBC. And as for "buying a plaque," reasonable minds can disagree on the value of certification itself, but USGBC has always said that a third-party review is what really motivates projects teams to stay the course and follow through.
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