CREJ - Property Management Quarterly - May 2015
The U.S. Green Building Council received an earful during the annual Green build conference in October. The current version of LEED, often referred toas LEED 2009, originally was scheduled to close for registration on June 27, 2015. This means project teams would no longer be allowed to “sign up” for LEED 2009 after June 27, and they would only be able to register for the new version – LEED v4. However, important stakeholders expressed concern over the registration end date, and the USGBC decided to extend the deadline. This will allow buildings to sign up for LEED 2009 through Oct. 31, 2016 – a sizable extension, more than one year after the original deadline. “When USGBC launched LEED v4, we set out with one goal in mind – to raise the bar in a way that challenges the building industry to reach higher than ever before,” said Marisa Long, USGBC. “This is our nature, and USGBC and its members’ collective mission. However, the market has requested additional time to prepare for LEED v4, so we responded. LEED v4 is already available, and extending LEED 2009’s availability enables USGBC to work with the broader industry within a longer time frame to drive meaningful and comprehensive change.” Let’s go over some lingo. Registration is the process of signing up for LEED. There is a flat fee of $900 for member companies or $1,200 for nonmember companies. This allows project teams to obtain access to LEED Online. The LEED process requires project teams to document performance through this online portal. Each strategy pursued has a corresponding form to complete in LEED Online. Therefore, registration allows a project team to begin the work. Once a project team is finished with all of the work in LEED Online, it can apply for certification and enter the review process. All projects must be completely through the review process (and, therefore, certified) under LEED 2009 by June 30, 2021. This is the “sunset” date when LEED 2009 will be completely closed. However, as with many things relating to the USGBC and LEED, this date is subject to change. Finally, LEED for Green Building Operations & Maintenance certifications expire after five years. Therefore, existing, occupied buildings must go through the process again at least once every five years to maintain certification. So the deadline extension holds several pieces of good news for building owners and managers. First, it allows more projects to complete the initial LEED O+M certification under LEED 2009, and register for recertification under the same system. The likelihood of maintaining LEED Gold, for example, under the same system is much easier than maintaining it with the heightened requirements of the newer version of LEED. The extension also allows project teams time to decide between pursuing LEED 2009 and LEED v4, and more time to implement actions that will be required for LEED v4.
LEED v4 raises the bar on almost every prerequisite and credit, sometimes combining strategies that would have obtained several points in the past to earn only one point in the new version. For example, in LEED for Building Design & Construction (formerly referred to as LEED NC), the green-vehicles credit goes from allowing project teams to reserve 5 percent of parking spaces for green vehicles (one LEED 2009 option) to requiring the same number of reserved spaces for green vehicles plus installing electric vehicle charging stations in an additional 2 percent of parking spaces (LEED v4). The bicycle-facilities credit goes from having bicycle storage at the building and showers within 200 yards (LEED 2009) to having a bicycle network within 200 yards of the building, bicycle storage for 2.5 percent of peak visitors and 5 percent of peak occupants, and having on-site showers available (LEED v4). The restructuring of v4 has impacts on O+M projects as well. Two commonly pursued LEED 2009 credits are the building exterior and hardscape management plan and the integrated pest management, erosion control and landscape management plan. These credits now are combined into one site-management credit. Having one water submeter would earn one point previously; now two submeters are required for the point. The commonly pursued electronic purchases credit has been combined with the somewhat difficult ongoing-consumables (aka office supply) purchases. These categories also have been combined in the waste management section, eliminating the ease of earning the “electronics recycling” point for properties diverting less than 50 percent of daily or ongoing consumables waste in the newly combined credit. In the indoor environmental quality section, lighting controls now must offer on-off-mid-level lighting control, and the high-performance cleaning program credit was eliminated. However, more points are available for the higher Energy Star scores, ongoing commissioning, access to quality views and indoor integrated pest management. Finally, the registration extension could allow more properties to be eligible for certification. For example, under LEED 2009, an Energy Star score of 69 or better is required to be eligible for LEED O+M. Under LEED v4, a minimum score of 75 is required. Therefore, the extension could allow significantly more properties to implement the current version of LEED now, and then have time to implement more energy-saving measures that would increase the Energy Star score for v4 compliance in the future.