Page 353 - The Engineering Guide to LEED-New Construction Sustainable Construction for Engineers

A S y s t e m a t i c V i e w o f G r e e n a n d M i n i m u m P r o g r a m Re q u i r e m e n t s 315

and regulatory participation as appropriate. Charrettes are intensely focused, collaborative
efforts. They can help create momentum to meet project goals in addition to fostering trust and
buy-in from the regulatory agencies and community. Collaborative agreement early in a project
can help avoid costly design changes and also identify potential partners and opportunities for
increased sustainability and performance from the project. Education is a vital component.
Another set of obstacles can involve the local and state regulatory agencies if they are
not familiar with some of the practices used. Likewise local statutes may prohibit, discourage,
or not address some of the techniques suggested for more sustainable construction.
Therefore, it is important to work closely with local and state officials and see which practices
may be incorporated and what steps may be taken to overcome some of these obstacles. As
the sustainable practices become more common, some of these obstacles will disappear.
Several states have started to adopt green building policies. This serves to facilitate the
process in two ways. First, adoption of green policies by states helps direct state and local
agencies in the manner that green projects will be permitted and evaluated. Second, requiring
green practices for many state projects helps improve the learning curve and familiarity in the
region with respect to sustainable construction. Understanding and knowledge are always
some of the best tools for implementation of new practices. By 2005 two states, Washington and
Nevada, had passed legislation relating to sustainable construction; and nine other states—
California, Arizona, Colorado, Michigan, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, and
Maine—had Executive Orders in place relating to either sustainable construction or energy
efficiency. Most also referred to the USGBC LEED rating systems in their policy directives.

How to Keep Track
At the initial meetings and charrettes, project objectives are outlined. It is important that
these objectives be referred to repeatedly throughout the project life and reevaluated and
revised as needed. One portion of the objectives is to establish the green design criteria.
LEED issues should be incorporated into a project as early as possible, to facilitate an
effective and efficient project completion and to minimize costs and changes. Just as in
other project and construction management philosophies which over the years have been
successfully incorporated into design and construction, such as Quality Assurance and
Quality Control (QA/QC), the incorporation of green building practices may at first seem
awkward. However, they should soon become routine and part of an established procedure
with their benefits accepted and appreciated. In similar manner to QA/QC, green building
issues are continually reevaluated and improved upon during the life of a project.
So where should it all start? It starts first with the owner and project conception. In
some cases the owner may voluntarily opt to seek LEED certification; in other cases it
may be required by local or state mandate. Either way, the intention to seek LEED
certification is usually first identified in an early draft of the specifications set by the
owner for a project. The LEED-NC process refers to the specifications set by the owner
as the “Owner’s Project Requirements” or OPR. As the OPR evolve, the specific LEED
credits preferred or recommended by the owner eventually get listed.
These green criteria can be easily kept track of in checklists that are based on the
LEED credit lists. The checklists are dynamic documents that change and improve with
the project. They can be readily downloaded from the USGBC website. A blank checklist
for LEED 2.2 is shown as Fig. 1.2.3. For each credit the question is asked whether the
project should attempt to achieve it. The answers can be yes, maybe (?), or no. Each credit
is checked off in the Yes, the Maybe (?), or the No column. “Yes” means that at this point
in the project, it is the intention that this credit will be sought. The question mark is for