Page 64 - Green Building Through Integrated Design

LOOKING TO THE FUTURE 41

Many cities have subscribed to climate change initiatives and will begin to require
green buildings for residential projects, especially large developments with major
infrastructure impacts. For example, by early 2008, more than 800 mayors representing
cities in all 50 states and Washington, D.C. signed on to a climate change initiative.*
Mayors who sign on to the agreement make a commitment to reduce greenhouse gas
emissions in their own cities and communities to a level 7 percent below 1990 levels
by 2012 through a series of actions like increasing energy efficiency, reducing vehicle
miles traveled, maintaining healthy urban forests, reducing sprawl and promoting use
of clean, renewable energy resources. In 2008, both Los Angeles and San Francisco
passed ordinances requiring private sector projects above 50,000 square feet to achieve
LEED certification.
Beginning in 2004, many states, large universities, and cities began to require
LEED Silver level (or better) achievements from their own construction projects.
Many universities have instituted LEED Gold requirements for large capital projects,
†
among them Arizona State University (ASU). Michael McLeod is Facilities Director
for ASU’s new Biodesign Institute, the first two buildings (of four planned) of which
have been awarded LEED Gold and Platinum certifications. Of the approach to LEED
‡
in these projects, McLeod says :
The interesting part was that not everyone bought into the whole LEED program at
first. There were people who were skeptical of it within the university. Luckily, we
had already selected Gould Evans and Lord Aeck Sargent as our designers. They
were both very interested and motivated for LEED and sustainability. To be honest,
I found that a lot of consultants still haven’t gotten on the bandwagon. The contrac-
tors, believe it or not, seem to be jumping on it left and right. I’ve been a little less
than impressed with a lot of the consultants.
The team was not selected based on their experience in sustainability. When they
were all selected, LEED certification wasn’t even in the picture or it was a very weak
possibility. The take away from that is if you hire good, high-quality contractors and
consultants, then they can rise to the occasion and do what you want. We were either
really lucky or really good in the selection because both the contractor and the con-
sultants really jumped on it. They worked hard to make it a success.
These buildings were part of a bigger study that was done a few years ago to develop
research at ASU—to motivate it, increase it and move us a few tiers higher in the
research community. The fundamentals of the building were set at that point. When
we brought on the design architects, we did not really do a charrette per se. We started

*City of Seattle, Mayor’s Office [online], accessed April 26, 2007, http://www.seattle.gov/mayor/climate/
PDF/USCM_Faq_1-18-07.pdf.
† Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE) [online], www.aashe.org/
resources/pdf/AASHEdigest2006.pdf, accessed April 26, 2007. The AASHE website is a great place to keep
track of the push for sustainable buildings in higher education, especially the American College and
University President’s Climate Committee, signed by more than 500 presidents, www.presidentsclimatecom-
mitment.org.
‡ Interview with Michael McLeod, March 2008.