LEED-ing to a Greener Planet Essays - Energy In The United States

LEED-ing to a Greener Planet In our society a new state of thinking has occurred. We have become obsessed with having more, regardless of the consequences. We have become pleasure-seeking, only thinking of the present and having no care for the future. This new instinctual mindset encompasses our culture from the highest level to the lowest. It threatens the current generation, the future generation, and all the achievements of past generations. This threat is a lack of sustainability in any part of our culture, be it economic, social, or environmental. One sinister problem (producing the majority of the United States waste) was our out-of-date building codes. More specifically- rules and regulations that today?s planners have in place for our buildings life cycle are not meeting today?s more eco-friendly criteria. In response, a bundle of separate agencies in the Construction industry designed environmentally oriented construction rating systems. The agencies objective- to positively push today?s planners, desi gners and owners to lessening the impact of projects as a whole, making a brighter outlook for future generations to come. But with this new wave of ideals, and responsibility to lessen our carbon footprint on our planet sustainability should also be affordable. Enhancing and restoring environmental values, creating net social benefits and a positive return for owners of the project are also important. Developed by the US Green Building Council (USGBC), Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design better known as ?L.E.E.D? is actually more of a rating system that awards points to the builder for taking various environmentally friendly approaches in their construction process. Builders are awarded points for meeting or exceeding benchmarks set by the USGBC in the following eight categories: innovation and design; location and linkages to the larger community; sustainable sites; water conservation; energy efficiency; material and resources; indoor air quality; and consumer education. Another way the USGBC can ensure economic as well as environmental sustainability in the building industry is by lobbying. Governmental regulations may impact the future of building practices, and so the USGBC encourages developers to prepare for eventual shifts in the political, legal, and social climates that affect the industry. Sharing the same vision as the founders of the USGBC, there have been other construction standard companies who have planned to revamp their building codes. The Sustainability Rating System (ISI), like the USGBC, uses set objective-based goals that will guide the engineer, owner, constructor, regulator and policymaker to provide more effective levels of reliability, along with building resilience, efficiency, and overall project performance. ISI?s rating system (like L.E.E.D) acknowledges the challenges faced by the many stakeholders charged with delivering and supporting necessary infrastructure projects in an increasingly resource-constrained world. ISI?s solution to this problem was by creating environmentally friendly criteria from the planning process to the demolition of their structures. The criteria includes a series of considerations related to the conceptual and planning bases along with project management and business strategies to promote sustainable infrastructure soluti ons. A second set of criteria is set in place to promote resources, materials, and water and energy conservation. In total, the rating system promotes consideration of a broad set of project features that encourage high levels of interaction with communities and stakeholders, balancing investments to provide resilience and broad acceptance of benefits and consequences of the proposed project and increasing the wise use of limited resources. Like LEED and ISI, the United Kingdom followed suit during the green building movement. In 1992 the Building Research Establishment's Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) was developed. In 2000, the system took a leap forward in its evolution, becoming an online assessment and rating tool under the name Green Globes for Existing Buildings. Being used by large developers and property management companies, The Green Building Initiative describes the Green Globe building assessment system as a ?revolutionary green management tool that includes an assessment protocol, a rating system, and a guide for integrating environmentally friendly design into commercial buildings.? Very similar to the USGBC, for a project to be certified, the project team must fill out a questionnaire. If the project then can pass the board with a minimum exam grade of 40% they would be granted the right for certification. Only after the exam, a third-party verifier visits both the