Construction Cost Estimating

      

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design

The concept of green building is widening its popularity across the world because of its environmental-friendly approach. Constructors, to keep the same pace with the changing pattern, are showing their willingness to adopt and apply the best usage of green technologies. The concept of the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design has emerged to monitor and control the construction process. Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a type of green building certification program stated by non-profit U.S. green building council (USGBC). The organization has developed a rating system that looks after design, construction and operation of green building and homes. The object of the organization is nothing but making the construction environment-friendly and resource efficient.

The LEED concept grew with time and covered a wide area of construction, starting from designing and building to maintenance and construction. It has first been used in 1994 as a standard for new construction only. It evolves as the time passes, and now it has been considered as a comprehensive system of an interrelated construction. The rules and regulations are applied according to the construction demands.

The rating system of LEED for designing and construction:

? New Construction
? Core & Shell
? Schools
? New Construction and Major Renovations
? Retail
? Health care

For operation and maintenance:
? Existing building: operations and maintenance

For neighborhood development and construction:
? Neighbor development
? Homes

The benefits of green building stretch further than the conventional route, and it comes up with an alternative to ignore the power and resource consuming process. Environment-friendly and budget-friendly, green buildings are rising higher in the popularity term. LEED certification ensures that the buildings are made without adding potential threats to the environment. There are different rating systems of a certification stated by the organization, and the scores are given out of 100.

? Certified
? Silver
? Gold
? Platinum

The steps to get LEED Certification:
1. Review your project to make sure your construction comes under the terms and conditions of LEED, covering every part as per the standard.
2. Check that your building strategies meet every requirement of LEED certification, including water system efficiency, building materials, resource efficient components, power systems and environment-friendly site selection.
3. Register the project in the Green Building Certification Institute.
4. Ensure that your team maintains all rules and regulation for the category of the design selected for the construction.
5. Upload your application along with the supported document to the official website of Green Building Council. A certification will be issued if the project gets approval from the authority. If it gets rejected, a project manager can appeal again.

Requirements for LEED certification:
? Your construction must set a clear environmental goal
? Follow the Guidelines of LEED standard
? Increase the use of recycled materials in your construction
? Get in touch with LEED specialists

These are a few things that you need to keep in mind while applying for the LEED certification. Since Green Building concept is truly innovative, it spreads like the wind across the world. When the benefits support both your budget and environment, there should not be a second thought of whether you need LEED certification and not.

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design
Image Courtesy: earthcharter.org