Newly Released Studies: Energy Savings Significant in LEED; Certified Buildings Outperform Peers in Sale, Rental and Occupancy Rates
The business case for building green just got better. Two recently released studies, one by the New Buildings Institute (NBI) and one by CoStar Group, have validated what USGBC members have been saying all along: third-party-certified buildings outperform their conventional counterparts across a wide variety of metrics, including energy savings, occupancy rates, sale price, and rental rates. In the NBI study, the results indicate that new buildings certified under LEED are, on average, performing 25-30% better than non-LEED certified buildings in terms of energy use.

Sustainable design balances human needs (rather than human wants) with the carrying capacity of the natural and cultural environments. It minimizes environmental impacts, it minimizes importation of goods and energy as well as the generation of waste. The ideal situation would be that if development was necessary, it would be constructed from natural sustainable materials collected onsite, generate its own energy from renewable sources such as solar or wind, and manage its own waste.

While this is not completely possible in all cases, the USGBC (United States Green Building Council) has created a system for rating Green Building design and construction. The LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design)® rating program is a voluntary, consensus-based national standard for developing high-performance, sustainable buildings.

The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED™) Green Building Rating System represents the U.S. Green Building Council’s effort to provide a national standard for what constitutes a “green building.” Through its use as a design guideline and third-party certification tool, it aims to improve occupant well-being, environmental performance and economic returns of buildings using established and innovative practices, standards and technologies.

- U.S. Green Building Council

LEED™ is a voluntary, consensus based national standard for developing high performance, sustainable buildings using a standard benchmark of measurement for assessing building performance and meeting sustainability goals. LEED™ recognizes achievements and promotes expertise in green building through a comprehensive system offering project certification, professional accreditation, training, and practical resources. It celebrates and identifies green building achievement.

LEED-EB - LEED for Existing Buildings maximizes operational efficiency while minimizing environmental impacts. It provides a recognized, performance-based benchmark for building owners and operators to measure operations, improvements and maintenance on a consistent scale. LEED for Existing Buildings is a road map for delivering economically profitable, environmentally responsible, healthy, productive places to live and work.

C.L.I. Group, LLC has LEED Accredited Professionals on staff that can evaluate your project in preparation for LEED Certification. Having a LEED AP involved in your project planning will aid in filing proper paperwork and also make the project eligible for one (1) LEED Credit toward certification.

LEED-NC 2.2 EQ Credit 3.2 (Option 2) Indoor Air Quality Testing

C.L.I. Group receives a lot of questions concerning the Indoor Air Quality testing option for EQ Credit 3.2 option 2. All LEED projects should carefully consider whether the building flush-out is possible. If it is not feasible to perform the flush-out, IAQ testing should be decided on as early as possible in the project.

For EQ Credit 3.2 Construction IAQ Management Plan, option 1, building flush-out is not always feasible and/or possible in Ohio weather. In cases where performing the flush-out is not feasible, this should be discussed and determined during design phase of project. If option 1 is not feasible and option 2 - IAQ testing is opted for, it is a good idea for the LEED consultant or the IAQ testing company to evaluate all submittals. By evaluating submittals, the LEED consultant and/or IAQ testing company can reduce the risk of failing expensive testing by reducing the risk of pollutants being introduced to the building by substitutions during construction. This can avoid expensive re-testing.

Construction scheduling should also be monitored if option 2 is being considered. This allows for materials which do emit VOC's to be installed in proper sequence on the project which can prevent contaminants from being adsorbed by other building materials and off-gassed later.

Building owners are finding that the potential benefits of LEED certification can include:

Fundamental Commissioning - Energy & Atmosphere Prerequisite 1

The U.S. Green Building Council recognizes the long term value commissioning adds to a project, especially as it pertains to optimizing system operation and minimizing energy use. As a

LEED® prerequisite, commissioning must be implemented in order for the project to earn any level of certification.

In order to earn this prerequisite, the responsibilities of the commissioning authority must include the following:

Document the owner's project requirements for the building's energy related systems.

Document the basis of design for the building's energy related systems.

Develop and incorporate commissioning requirements into the construction documents.

Develop and utilize a commissioning plan.

Verify that the installation and performance of energy consuming systems meet the owner's project requirements and basis of design.

Complete a commissioning report.

Additional Commissioning - Energy & Atmosphere Credit 3

The U.S. Green Building Council recognizes that the earlier commissioning is begun in the process the more benefit - economically, energy-savings, and quality-control - it will provide to the overall project. In acknowledgement of this, the Council allows a project to earn one point if the commissioning process is expanded beyond the prerequisite to include drawing reviews and submittal reviews. The Council also recognizes that commissioning can help ensure the building continues to operate at peak efficiencies by verifying training is adequate and by providing a manual to guide the operators on what it takes to keep the building systems tuned.

To earn the LEED® point, the additional responsibilities of the commissioning authority include the following:

Conduct a review of the design before the construction documents phase.

Conduct a review of the construction documents near completion of the construction document development and before issuing the contract documents for construction.

Conduct a review of the building's energy related systems contractor submittals.

Develop a single manual that contains the information required for re-commissioning the energy related systems.

Verify that the requirements for training operating personnel and building occupants are completed.

Have a contract in place to review building operation with O&M staff and occupants including a plan for resolution of outstanding commissioning-related issues 8 to 10 months after final acceptance.

LEED® also requires that to earn this credit the commissioning authority must be independent of the design team. This avoids potential conflicts of interest that may arise during the drawing and submittal review tasks.

As of January 2005, 52% of the certified projects earned the Additional Commissioning credit. (Source: USGBC, "Certified Projects January 2005")

It is our long term commitment to providing economically sound, environmentally friendly and energy saving programs for building owners that has led us to our commitment to the LEED-EB program. We have always believed that the building as a whole must be assessed as part of any meaningful energy management or sustainable building program. The "holistic" approach to buildings is what our company was founded on. We believe that in order to achieve this, we must maintain a neutral, third-party approach to evaluating a buildings. We know from experience that in many cases, firms bring a financial bias to the process which can skew the results. We have been involved with many building owners which have been less than satisfied with the results of expenditures as a result of this bias. This makes it imperative that the consultant your hire discloses any professional relationships which may affect their ability to make un-biased decisions.

Another issue which requires some consideration by the owner when electing to achieve a LEED™ certification for their building is the scope of the commissioning which will be required. For all LEED projects, the EA prerequisite "Fundamental Commissioning" is a mandatory requirement. It is strongly suggested that the "Enhanced Commissioning" EA cr 3 be considered for most projects. The enhanced commissioning brings building owners the full value of having their building commissioned if the process is carefully thought out from the pre-design phase of a project. The commissioning agent should be brought onto the team as early as possible. Their input can be a valuable owner asset and can make the commissioning process a greater value to both the design team and owner. A few suggestions when considering the CxA that you contract for the project:

C.L.I. Group, LLC has developed an understanding of how buildings operate "holistically". This understanding comes from building a team of professionals with various backgrounds and years of forensic experience in retro-commissioning buildings and performing investigations of building and system failures. It is well documented by forensic building investigation firms that the majority of building failures are systems related. Without understanding the interoperability of the systems of buildings, properly measuring the performance of a building or discovering why buildings or systems fail may be elusive. This is why the focused commissioning of the past has only experienced limited success. Many firms which perform commissioning today have backgrounds in HVAC and control systems which in only a piece of the whole. Without assuring that the building can hold air, there is no way to accurately measure it. This is where the building enclosure becomes important. Uncontrolled airflow, pressure imbalances, convective heat losses and moisture problems often plague buildings that simply commission airflows from HVAC systems. For further information on the importance of "Total Building Commissioning" you may wish to use the following links:

--Al Tibbs, LEED AP--

President, C.L.I. Group, LLC

Green Buildings promote resource conservation, including energy efficiency, renewable energy, and water conservation features; consider environmental impacts and waste minimization and help create a healthy and comfortable environment. In many cases, the cost of building green may be the same as conventional building. A consultant familiar with the LEED™ rating system, green building materials, energy conservation, indoor air quality, HVAC balancing and other building science issues can help your company in determining the benefits that building green would give to your company.

Construction Waste

C.L.I. Group, LLC has the experience needed to help in evaluating a Green Building program for residential builders. We are members of the following:

Green Building In The News

Building Green:

Environmental benefits:

Economic benefits:

Health and community benefits:

LEED^®, the "Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design" Green Building Rating System, is the nationally accepted standard for green buildings developed by the USGBC membership.

Reference: USGBC

Resources:

US Department of Energy brochure, "Clean Energy Choices: Tips on Buying and Using Renewable Energy at Home" (PDF document)

Ohio Incentives for Renewable Energy

Saving Energy by Proxy - Shareholders Request Corporations Review Energy and Climate Performance

"Use of this logo does not imply EPA endorsement."

Energy Audits:

Energy audits can add to building comfort, reduce energy costs and conserve valuable resources. In addition, by understanding the building envelope and correcting deficiencies, many other building problems which are directly related to air leakage can be avoided or eliminated. Problems such as interstitial space moisture/condensation can lead biological contamination (mold), component damage and in some cases failure of structural systems in the building.

C.L.I. Group, LLC performs energy audits with the understanding that building work as a whole. There are many factors which must be considered when performing an audit. In addition to building leakage other factors such as pressures, ventilation, insulation, HVAC system efficiencies, drafts, infiltration and exfiltration, dewpoint temperatures, relative humidity and temperatures must be measured and evaluated. A change in any one of the listed components can change the conditions within a building. This is the reason that all systems should be evaluated together as a whole.

In some cases a few small adjustments can result in substantial savings, while in other cases, there may be hidden damage which requires more extensive investigation and repair.

When most people picture a moisture problem in a building they think of a roof leak, wet basement, etc. Few people picture interstitial space moisture created by differential vapor pressures, dewpoint temperatures, stack effect, etc. These factors can lead not only to moisture problems, but can lead to poor indoor air quality as well.

The Green Building program addresses these and many other issues to create a more energy efficient, environmentally friendly, sustainable environment. The Merriam-Webster dictionary gives the following definition of sustainable:

1 : capable of being sustained
2 a : of, relating to, or being a method of harvesting or using a resource so that the resource is not depleted or permanently damaged <sustainable techniques> <sustainable agriculture> b : of or relating to a lifestyle involving the use of sustainable methods <sustainable society>

Visit Our Energy Pages for Further Details

2000/2003 International Energy Conservation Code Inspections/Plan Examinations

Is Your Building or Addition Code Compliant?

If you are building a commercial structure, new residential building or putting an addition on an existing building you may want to assure that your building meets current code requirements for the state of Ohio. Current status of energy code compliance in Ohio is as follows:

C.L.I. Group, LLC can help to bring your project into compliance by performing plans exams and inspections and providing calculations, reports, and documentation to show energy compliance. Compliance may be required and inspections should be performed on the following:

For More Information on Energy and our Energy Services Click Here