sharp points of interest

Is LEED rapidly become the attire of the emperor, “see the emperor’s new clothes”, “how beautiful!”, and how many professionals proudly append their names with LEED, LEED-AP, LEED-NC, etc, etc. While LEED may become somewhat tarnished it does represent, for those professionals willing to test and maintain their LEED status, a commitment to an idea.  An idea that as design professionals we can do better, we can make better buildings and places for people to work and live, we can be responsive to limited resources and energy while improving the environment. 

Fortunately there are people willing to tell the emperor that his clothes are not so glorious and so LEED is undergoing that scrutiny. LEED-exposed may be just the place to understand what LEED really is or was.

Had LEED been an open-source guide where design professionals made recommendations, reported results (good & bad) and compiled a list of best practices towards better buildings and not a fee for certification enterprise then we may have been much further down the road and LEED might have become what we as design professionals had hoped it would.

I don’t believe that spirit of commitment to people and the environment will wane or die with LEED’s passing or decline but most likely will evolve to a better solution. Green Globes is possibly another step further down the road as is Net-Zero.  Whatever the next milestone we are at least heading in the right direction.

For the last 15 years LEED has been the de facto certification program for sustainability but the recent acceptance of the Green Globes certification program as an acceptable alternative by GSA has loosened LEED's strangle hold on sustainability.

The LEED certification process has over the years become so cumbersome and costly that many clients have opted for adopting LEED certification requirements but stopped short of certification just to avoid the inflated costs related to LEED's fee for certification.   

Green Globes response has been to develop an certification process that is more cost effective, easier to use, less onerous and more user friendly with a Green Globes Assessor who works with the AEC team throughout the process.  This later Value Added Service means not having to hire a costly consultant.

In the final analysis LEED will have to dramatically change its business model or be systematically replaced by Green Globes which has a far superior solution to sustainability certification.

DJC- Oregon
Green Globes Challenging LEED for Market Share...........................14.02.19

SBO
Green Globes Fans Rejoice, LEED Backers Silent after GSA decision..13.11.19

Building Green
Green Globe Tops LEED in Federal Review, But Barely.....................12.06.05

technology of interest

SideLighter™ is the first low-cost, high-performance, transparent, concentrated photovoltaic (CPV) solar panel to be used for dual purposes for energy generation and as a structural panel or window. The compact physical size of the solar cells costs 93 percent less to produce than current photovoltaic cells, contributing to a 46 percent reduction in building CPV solar panels. Its increased effectiveness will also help to achieve grid parity more quickly.