LEED In Motion: Where Are the LEED-O+M APs?
October 1, 2013
Today's tip of the day is about the recent LEED In Motion report published by the U.S. Green Building Council.
The recently released report titled "People and Progress" is the first of three of USGBC's "LEED In Motion" reports. These reports, says USGBC, will provide "a holistic snapshot of the green building movement, equipping readers with the numbers and insight they need to build a strong case for sustainability."
The big reveal in this first report is that about 4.3 million people live and work in LEED certified facilities. That's an impressive number, isn't it?
But possibly the more impressive number included in the report is this: There are now a total of 186,476 LEED professional in the industry. That includes 32,168 LEED Green Associates and 64,118 LEED Accredited Professionals with Specialty (there are 90,190 LEED APs without Specialty).
The vast majority (56,796) of those APs with Specialty are Building Design & Construction (BD&C), which isn't surprising. There are only 4,550 with Interior Design and Construction (ID&C) Specialty and even fewer with Operations and Maintenance (O&M) Specialty — 2,711.
It's a little surprising that the O&M number is that low, but not totally shocking. One reason there are far fewer O&M Specialty is obvious: Facility managers don't have nearly the same incentive (or if one is being cynical, time) as architects to complete the credential. Indeed, it's a safe bet that the vast majority of those O&M Specialties are actually consultants, not facility managers.
While an O&M credential could certainly help, nobody would go so far as to argue that it's a must-have for a successful LEED-EBOM initiative. Even with the dearth of O&M Specialties, EBOM is humming along just fine — remember, in December, 2011, it passed LEED-NC as the rating system with the most cumulative square footage certified.
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