LEED stands for Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design. It is the most "widely used Green building rating system in the world and an international symbol of excellence in Green building. LEED was developed by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). This certification ensures "electricity cost savings, lower carbon emissions and healthier environments for the places we live, work, learn, play and worship. LEED certification is important as we enter into the world of sustainability. This is "proof that building are going above and beyond to ensure the building is constructed and operated to the highest level of sustainability". It also covers energy efficiency, indoor air quality, water use, and sustainable materials.
As we get into textiles this is a super important rating system and certification to understand to ensure that we are designers who work under sustainability standards and guidelines. Every professional and well-known designer works under these standards and deem it essential or requirement instead of recommended. The difference between LEED and the LEED Green Associate is that LEED is the rating system and the Green Associate is the credential that people can strive to attain. When a building is LEED certified the project can earn levels such as Certified, Silver, Gold, or Platinum. There are also different versions of LEED that you can find described on the LEED website, which were revisions and updated version of the rating system and cerification. LEED v4 was released in 2013 and were more baseline standards and then LEED v4.1 was released in 2019 and was used with updates until 2025. LEED v5 is the most recent updated and revised version of the LEED system and certification which shifts the program to prioritize decarbonization, quality of life and equity, ecological conservation and restoration, etc.. The LEED v5 is one current initiative to note that is promoting sustainability. This updated version is a way to push the advancement in sustainability. Another popular initiative is the LEED for Cities Certification Program. This helps cities, towns, and counties plan, track, and achieve sustainability goals at a community scale. This is a great initiative to, again, push advancement of sustainability in cities and quality of life.
LEED is the system and LEED Green Associate is proof that you know the system. This professional credential is for the individuals that work on the buildings, not the building itself and determines if you know the LEED building concepts. You have to pass an exam to earn the certification and pass it with at least a 170 out of 200 score. Anyone can take the exam but the cost differs whether you are a non-member, USGBC member or an eligible student. After taking the 2-hour exam, you do have to work and continue in your education to maintain it every 2 years.
ONE STEP FURTHER
An example of a LEED certified building is the Crystal in London, UK. This building is not only LEED-certified but it is also one of LEED's Platinum -certified buildings. The Platinum LEED certification is the highest level of Green buildings in the rating system. The Crystal is actually the first in the world to achieve the LEED Platinum certification. It employs a "photovoltaic array to product 20 percent of the total electricity demand, and only 10% of the water used in the building is sourced from the public main" (most is rainwater from on-site harvesting tanks).
The example of the LEED building you shared is excellent. It helps me understand the benefits on a much deeper level. It is so powerful that we as designers can have a positive impact on the health and well-being of our clients, don't you agree?
Hi Grace, I like your blog! Your summaries of LEED and how to become a LEED Green Associate are very well explained. I also really like how you talked about how LEED updates their certifications to ensure they are current and the best they can be. I also really like your One Step Further about one of LEED's Platinum certified buildings. It's so cool how they harvest rainwater. Great job!
Here's an article that describes more architectural designs for harvesting rainwater. https://architizer.com/blog/inspiration/collections/rainwater-collection/
Hi Grace, I really enjoyed reading your blog this week. The example of a LEED building you shared is great! I did a little more research about building green in London because the building example you provided is in London. In the UK there are two environmental intermediaries, BREEAM and LEED. "The objective of BREEAM In-Use is to create a program that identifies areas for improvement and enhancement for the existing building stock and introduce a sustained monitoring of performance in the built environment" ((Chegut, A., Eichholtz, P., Kok, N., & Quigley, J. M. (2011)). It was interesting to learn more about jurisdictions in different countries. I attached the scholarly article below so that you can learn more too! Chegut, A., Eichholtz, P., Kok, N., & Quigley, J. M. (2011). The value of green buildings: new evidence from the United Kingdom. ERES 2010 proceedings, 1-43.
The product selection criteria is super important when doing a commercial project because it is an organized way of keeping the goals of the client and the designer at the forefront of the project. This also makes for consistency and efficiency as the project progresses. The selection criteria product list from elearn helps highlight some common and critical considerations that designer should keep in mind while designing. These include: client preferences/needs/criteria, fire rating/code compliance, durability, ACT, aesthetics, colorfastness to light (scale + pattern repetition), stain resistance and cleanability, anti-mircobial finishes, LEED and WELL, and other considerations (wet/dry crocking, dimensional stability, fabric backing). Developing this list of project criteria specifically for commercial projects is crucial and developing our own list of product criteria is also going to set you apart as a professional designer. In my own list of product selection criteria I would...
#6 Blog This week in class we met together to discuss the God-made vs Man-made fibers. We saw physical samples of fibers from a silkworm and talked about the way they are extracted as a filament fiber. We then we able to see samples of Cotton, Yak, Camel, Alpaca, Wool, Angora and Hemp fibers. We also saw samples of Flax, Ramie, Modacrylic/SEF, Spandex/Glospan, Vinyon/Celanese, Fox Fibre Cotton, Rayon/Zantrel, Nylon/Type 1775, Olefin/Nouvelle, and other fibers. I was very cool to feel and see the actual fibers and the way they start out before any processing and spinning. After this we went through the textile binder, and I was able to look through the magnifying glass and see the differences in the knitting and weaving of the textile samples. All of this helps me understand more about fibers and the topics of the blog this week. For the first part of this blog, we watch a video about How Cotton is Processed in Factories and How it is Made. From this video I learned that originally...
The example of the LEED building you shared is excellent. It helps me understand the benefits on a much deeper level. It is so powerful that we as designers can have a positive impact on the health and well-being of our clients, don't you agree?
ReplyDeleteHi Grace, I like your blog! Your summaries of LEED and how to become a LEED Green Associate are very well explained. I also really like how you talked about how LEED updates their certifications to ensure they are current and the best they can be. I also really like your One Step Further about one of LEED's Platinum certified buildings. It's so cool how they harvest rainwater. Great job!
ReplyDeleteHere's an article that describes more architectural designs for harvesting rainwater.
Deletehttps://architizer.com/blog/inspiration/collections/rainwater-collection/
Hi Grace, I really enjoyed reading your blog this week. The example of a LEED building you shared is great! I did a little more research about building green in London because the building example you provided is in London. In the UK there are two environmental intermediaries, BREEAM and LEED. "The objective of BREEAM In-Use is to create a program that identifies areas for improvement
ReplyDeleteand enhancement for the existing building stock and introduce a sustained monitoring of performance in the built environment" ((Chegut, A., Eichholtz, P., Kok, N., & Quigley, J. M. (2011)). It was interesting to learn more about jurisdictions in different countries. I attached the scholarly article below so that you can learn more too!
Chegut, A., Eichholtz, P., Kok, N., & Quigley, J. M. (2011). The value of green buildings: new evidence from the United Kingdom. ERES 2010 proceedings, 1-43.