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By Nancy B. Solomon, AIA

Howard suggests that LEED will be increasingly underpinned by LCA-type thinking, although he is quick to point out that some important sustainable design issues are not typically addressed by LCA. “Traditional LCA has focused on materials and products,” he explains. It tends to look at global impact (such as loss of natural resources and toxic emissions) rather than local impact (such as storm-water management and light pollution) or interior consequences (such as thermal comfort and views of nature). Searching for the right mix, USGBC recently established a committee to consider the role of LCA within LEED and the appropriate methodology, data, and tools that would be needed to make it a reality.

 

ENERGY-10, a PC-based design tool, helps architects quickly identify the most cost-effective, energy-saving measures for small buildings. APPLY is a special feature that provides a quick way to determine the combined effect of a group of strategies.

Last, but not least, Howard expects that LEED 3.0 will establish bioregionally weighted credits in order to reward those strategies that offer environmental benefits appropriate to a specific locale.

The future of green

It’s hard to know if USGBC’s anticipated changes will satisfy all the critics, or come quickly enough for them. But those who have long been at the forefront of this movement take a broad view of the situation. Practitioners like Bill Reed, AIA, vice president of integrative design for Natural Logic in Arlington, Massachusetts, see LEED as part of a larger, more comprehensive, and more far-reaching process. When potential clients call him about doing a LEED project, he tells them, “We don’t just do LEED. We work at the restorative level.” The fact that people are calling and asking the questions is demonstration enough that LEED has been a resounding success. “I think LEED is serving its intended purpose,” says Reed, “but it is not the ultimate purpose.”