LEED
Let's get real; building with Omnicrete yields a system that maximizes green points and uses ALL Green materials and offers Maximum Sustainable LEED Points and saves 75% energy on heating and cooling costs (what's greener than that)!
What is LEED Design?
The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System, developed by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), provides a suite of standards for environmentally sustainable construction. Since its inception in 1998, LEED has grown to encompass over 14,000 projects in 50 US States and 30 countries covering 1.062 billion square feet (99 km²) of development area. The hallmark of LEED is that it is an open and transparent process where the technical criteria proposed by the LEED committees are publicly reviewed for approval by the more than 10,000 membership organizations that currently constitute the USGBC.
Individuals recognized for their knowledge of the LEED rating system are permitted to use the LEED Accredited Professional (AP) acronym after their name, indicating they have passed the accreditation exam given by the USGBC.
LEED began its development in 1994 spearheaded by Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) senior scientist Robert K. Watson who, as founding chairman of the LEED Steering Committee until 2006, led a broad-based consensus process which included non-profit organizations, government agencies, architects, engineers, developers, builders, product manufacturers and other industry leaders. Early LEED committee members also included USGBC cofounder Mike Italiano, architects Bill Reed and Sandy Mendler, builder Gerard Heiber and engineer Richard Bourne. As interest in LEED grew, in 1996, engineers Tom Paladino and Lynn Barker co-chaired the newly formed LEED technical committee.
From 1994 to 2006, LEED grew from one standard for new construction to a comprehensive system of six interrelated standards covering all aspects of the development and construction process. LEED also has grown from six volunteers on one committee to over 200 volunteers on nearly 20 committees and nearly 150 professional staff.
The move towards LEED certification of buildings and green building practices has been driven greatly by the tremendous benefits which are a direct result of implementing a green approach. LEED certified buildings use key resources more efficiently when compared to conventional buildings which are simply built to code. LEED certified buildings are healthier work and living environments, which contributes to higher productivity and improved employee health and comfort. The USGBC has also compiled a long list of benefits of implementing a LEED strategy which ranges from improving air and water quality to reducing solid waste. The fundamental reduction in environmental impacts in addition to all of the economic and occupant benefits goes a long way for making a case for green building. It is also important to note that these benefits are reaped by anyone who comes into contact with the project which includes owners, occupants and society as a whole.
These benefits do not come without a cost however. Green buildings cost more both to design and to construct when compared to conventional buildings. The cost of designing a LEED certified building is higher for several reasons. One reason is that sustainable construction principles may not be well understood by the design professionals undertaking the project. This could require time to be spent on research. Some of the finer points of LEED certification (especially those which demand a higher-than-orthodox standard of service from the construction team) could possibly lead to misunderstandings between the design team, construction team, and client, which could result in delays. Also, there may be a lack of abundant availability of manufactured building components which meet LEED standards. Pursuing LEED certification for a project is an added cost in itself as well. This added cost comes in the form of USGBC correspondence, LEED design-aide consultants, and the hiring of the required Commissioning Authority (CxA) (all of which would not necessarily be included in an environmentally responsible project unless it were also seeking LEED certification).
Often times when LEED certification is pursued, the initial construction cost of the project will be higher than the current industry standard. However, these high initial costs can be effectively mitigated by the savings incurred over time due to the lower-than-industry-standard operational costs which are typical of a LEED certified building. Additionally, economic payback may come in the form of employee productivity gains incurred as a result of working in a healthier environment. Studies have suggested that an initial up front investment of 2% extra will yield over ten times the initial investment over the life cycle of the building.
Although the deployment of the LEED Standard has raised awareness of Green Building practices, its scoring system is skewed toward the ongoing use of fossil fuels. More than half of the available points in the Standard support efficient use of fossil fuels, while only a handful are awarded for the use of sustainable energy sources. Further the USGBC has stated support for the 2030 Challenge, an effort that has set a goal of efficient fossil fuel use by 2030.
Different LEED versions have varied scoring systems based on a set of required "prerequisites" and a variety of "credits" in the six major categories listed above. In LEED v2.2 for new construction and major renovations for commercial buildings there are 69 possible points and buildings can qualify for four levels of certification:
LEED certification is obtained after submitting an application documenting compliance with the requirements of the rating system as well as paying registration and certification fees. Certification is granted solely by the Green Building Council responsible for issuing the LEED system used on the project.
Recently the application process for new construction certification has been streamlined electronically, via a set of active PDFs that automates the process of filing the documentation.
Reference Cited: Most information above was received directly or indirectly for the USGBC.com web site.
Green Building Certified - LEED certification is obtained after submitting an application documenting compliance with the requirements of the rating system as well as paying registration and certification fees. Certification is granted solely by the Green Building Council responsible for issuing the LEED system used on the project. If you're interested in having your new Omnicrete home Green Certified we can arrange that for you.
Omnicrete's LEED Point Calculation
We have calculated the potential LEED Point calculation of the structural componets of the Omnicrete System. Click here for the amazing results.
What is Carbon Footprint?
It is expected that LEED-NC 3.0 will include a requirement for a carbon footprint (carbon building print) and a significant reduction of GHG (green-house gases) beyond a baseline level. The reduction in carbon dioxide must be measured based on the direct and indirect carbon dioxide and equivalent reductions. These include emissions related to the consumption of grid delivered electricity, on-site combustion of fossil fuels, and fugitive refrigerant emissions. The efforts to quantify emission and reductions in emissions will be in an effort to monetize the climate change externally in the same way that a Kyoto Clean Development Project (carbon project) does. There has been one green building project in the world to monetize the reductions that acts as the main precedent for this type of project. This was the ITC Hotel Sonar Bangla Sheraton & Towers Kolkata, India.
The materials used in the Omnicrete process generates the smallest Carbon Footprint as compared to wood, block and Styrofoam ICF wall systems. For example the energy consumed and the consequence of expending fossil fuels to cut down trees and cut the wood in a manufacturing facility and then deliver the wood to a job site is far more extensive and leaves a greater carbon foot print then does the process of constructing within the Omnicrete process. The ICF system uses Polystyrene as a building product that's intention is to save energy. Since Polystyrene is a petroleum based product the concept of using it is at best an oxymoron. How ungreen can a system be. ICF's brag about being "Green" and use a petroleum based product in it construction process. Similar to this concept is block and wood construction that use wood and plastics through out its construction process. How ridiculous can the world become when HGTV and the USGBC promote Green building showing an ICF, Wood or Block construction.
