In 2005, Fossil Ridge High School in Fort Collins, Colo., was awarded a Silver LEED certification.

Ask any member of the construction team today about their emphasis on sustainable building and many will tell you about their commitment to the movement. Some might even describe a current project seeking Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) accreditation. That's precisely what U.S. Green Building Council CEO and President Rick Fedrizzi wants to hear.

Fedrizzi is founding chairman of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and has served as CEO and president of the organization since 2004. Under Fedrizzi's leadership, USGBC has championed efforts to foster commitment to green building in the construction community.

The organization is responsible for managing the LEED rating system – quite possibly the most influential standard of measurement and benchmarks for sustainable construction used today. As green and LEED-certified buildings become more of an industry standard, USGBC is in the process of evolving the system.

Recently, Construction Today interviewed Fedrizzi about the accomplishments of USGBC and the direction in which LEED is heading.

Construction Today: The LEED accreditation system has been in place since 2000. Now, seven years later, do you think the system is in need of an overhaul? What will be the drivers behind revising LEED's energy credits?

Rick Fedrizzi: We just recently announced the next steps in the evolution of the LEED rating system which will make the system more flexible and adaptive – but still technically rigorous and consensus-based. LEED is constantly evolving as part of our effort for continuous improvement.

Four key initiatives have emerged for this initiative. The first is the harmonization and alignment of LEED credits across the rating systems to bring the core elements of LEED into one elegant rating system. Technical framework development on the “back-end” of LEED will integrate the core elements of all the rating systems, reduce duplication and “credit drift”  and make the information needed for certification more accessible to users.

The second initiative involves technical development work within LEED that includes incorporating lifecycle assessment (LCA); adding regionally based credits to the rating system; seamlessly certifying and connecting design, construction, and operations and maintenance; and reconfiguring credit organization by environmental impacts in order to respond to specific high-priority performance concerns, such as carbon dioxide emissions and climate change.

The third area is the introduction of a regular development schedule so that the community will know what development activities will take place when, allowing users and USGBC members to more actively engage in LEED's growth and development. LEED has a long history of inclusion and collaboration. It took more than 600,000 volunteer hours from some of the best minds in the industry to launch LEED, and it's the continuing involvement of these volunteers through our committee structure that will ensure LEED's evolution is on target.

The final initiative is an evolution of the LEED committee structure around three core areas: technical development, market segment focus and certification process.   

In regards to the updated energy requirements, LEED projects are required to achieve at least two “optimize energy performance” points within LEED. This energy credit increase will improve the energy performance of all LEED-certified green buildings by 14 percent for new construction and 7 percent for existing buildings.  

Improving energy performance will immediately increase the LEED rating system's impact in reducing building energy related greenhouse gas emissions, and is part of the USGBC eight-point Climate Change Agenda announced at last year's Greenbuild.

CT: How important is obtaining LEED certification for green building projects, as opposed to building green without seeking a LEED rating?

RF: By getting LEED certified, you know your building is green. You know exactly how much energy, water and resources you are using, you know where the materials came from and you know the quality of the indoor environment. You can certainly have a green building without being LEED certified but with LEED, you know it's green.

LEED was initially developed because the building industry lacked a coherent definition of what “green” was. USGBC noticed this need for an evolving rating system that could verify the sustainable aspects of buildings and recognize those projects that were really committed to green building. The LEED rating system provides the building industry with consistent, credible standards for what constitutes a green building and has become the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high-performance green buildings.

‘Sooner Than We Think’
CT: USGBC has worked hard to bring green building to the mainstream. How successful do you think the organization has been in doing that?

F: I think that USGBC is an important driver for creating awareness of green building design and construction. I also think that LEED is a very successful tool that is helping projects to achieve their green building goals. These days, there is an increasing awareness of global warming – the news media's increasing interest in publicizing the epidemic and the country's businesses and leaders talking about sustainability and conservation. All of these factors are important and helping to spread the green building movement.

I also attribute the success to the stories that follow the certification – projects that are saving major dollars in energy, electricity and water bills alone. Their employees are happier, and are taking fewer sick days.  All of these success stories are major contributors to the overall success of LEED.

We'll achieve the ultimate goal for green building sooner than we think, which is that the phrase disappears, because all buildings will be green.

CT: How is Standard 189 – the new baseline standard being established for sustainable design – progressing?

RF: The public review period for the standard was open until July 9, and will be turned over to the committee for review. The goal of Standard 189 is to further drive green building into mainstream building practices. We're partnering with ASHRAE and IESNA to develop a new minimum standard for green building, which will create an important new entry point into high-performance building. When completed, Standard 189 will be an ANSI-accredited standard that can be incorporated into building code. It will be modeled after LEED, which is a leadership rating system, but Standard 189 will serve to raise the floor of building practice in general and truly bring green building to the mainstream.  

Standard 189 will be the first of its kind in the United States, and will address key areas of performance including energy efficiency, greenhouse gas emissions, sustainable site selection, water usage, materials and resources and indoor environmental quality.

CT: In late June, USGBC announced its initiative to better align LEED credits across the rating system. Which of these initiatives, in your opinion, will have the greatest impact on factors contributing to climate change?

RF: I think that LEED as a whole will have an impact on mitigating climate change. As it is now, 65 percent of the points that a project can earn in LEED directly mitigate climate change. We've also recently passed an energy performance requirement in LEED, which requires projects undergoing LEED certification to reduce their energy use even more. It passed overwhelmingly by our membership, through LEED's consensus-based development process, which signals to me that the market is ready to move forward.

CT: Some members of the construction process opt out of LEED certification because of the higher cost of construction. How can owners build a LEED certified building on an average/conventional budget?

RF: There are many misconceptions of LEED, but the most important thing to note about green building is that it doesn't have to cost more than conventional building. Green buildings yield huge operational savings by using less energy, less water, and sending less waste to landfills than conventional buildings. And building a LEED-certified building doesn't cost more – a study by David Langdon Adamson found an average increase in up-front costs of only one to two percent, and that is rapidly recouped through the operational savings in the first one to three years of being operational. And a large number of LEED gold buildings of all sizes are being built for not a penny more than conventional building.

Getting an experienced team in place, and practicing the principles of integrated design bring the costs down quickly.  Green buildings also have higher lease rates and healthier, more-productive occupants. The average return on investment in a green building is 20 percent – and that's a number that's relevant to any building owner.

In addition, many state and local governments have begun offering incentives such as tax exemptions and expedited permitting. One example that I love is the Lowe's home improvement store in Austin, Texas. Lowe's built a LEED Gold store that uses 40 to 70 percent less energy and 50 percent less water. Lowe's was very excited, because the store was permitted in three months, and it usually takes about 15 months to permit a store in Austin. They calculated a profit of $85,000 a day from that store. So, that store saved $3 million just by building LEED Gold. The interesting part was the store cost $2.85 million to build, so Lowe's essentially got a store at no cost. The store has tremendous performance metrics associated with it and tells a story that will help transform the market. Similar examples of incentives are happening across the country.

CT: Are there geographic regions that are doing a better job than others in developing sustainable, high-performance structures?

RF: Green building initially gained popularity on the coasts, but is now all over the U.S. We have registered and certified projects in not only the metropolitan regions in the U.S., but also in the suburbs and neighborhoods across the country.  

Working Together
CT: Several different professionals partake in the construction process, yet sometimes only a few members of that team – say the designers – are considered responsible for creating a high-performance structure. How are these roles changing with regards to sustainable construction and what responsibility does each member of the construction industry have in this type of development?

RF: What's unique about the LEED rating system is that it brings all different people from the building profession to the table. Every person within the project team has an impact on the building – not just the architect, but the engineers, the contractors and the interior designers. This is because LEED promotes a whole-building approach to sustainability by recognizing performance in five key areas of human and environmental health, including sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor environmental quality.

LEED also promotes integrated design. Integrated design encourages everyone on the project team to be involved in the design and construction process. A lot of errors can occur when people aren’t working together.

Increased Research
CT: Which segments do you feel have the greatest opportunity to impact the environment by becoming LEED certified?

RF: We could argue that there are many examples of facilities that should go green, but none more compelling than schools. We've recently launched our LEED for schools rating system, and it has taken off.  Green schools are healthier for students and teachers, better for the environment, and cost less to operate and maintain. Factoring in lower energy and water costs, improved teacher retention and lowered health costs, building green schools save about $12 per square foot, around four times the average additional cost of going green.

CT: Studies confirm that public funding for research related to green building practices and technologies is only a drop in the bucket. In fact, USGBC just announced its $1 million commitment to green building research. What is the organization doing to encourage an increase in government funding for such research?

RF: Our goal is to increase research in areas such as energy and water security; global climate change prevention; indoor environmental quality; and passive survivability in the face of natural and man-made disasters.

The USGBC will be both a resource for existing knowledge about the built environment and a driver of relevant research. [Published] research to high-performance green building practices and technologies is woefully underfunded by all sectors. We hope to reconcile for the gap by committing our own dollars to research funding.