Big Green: LEED Certification - Added Value?

[Mike O'Brien]

Hi, Doug--

I found myself wondering why you had a hard time answering this  
question yourself. What *do* you think?

Best,

Mike O'Brien

On Dec 5, 2006, at 4:26 PM, Doug Driscoll wrote:

> I have a dilemma that I am hoping some of the members of this group  
> can assist with.  Please forgive the length of this message, I tend  
> to babble when I don't have an answer to a question.
>
> I am a LEED AP, the occassional Project Architect, and at other  
> times a Project Manager within an 60 year old mid-size architecture  
> firm.  A portion of our work is institutional, revolving around  
> educational, preservation, transportation, planning and the vast  
> tid-bits of having long relationships with multiple municipal  
> agencies.
>
> A number of these agencies are either considering mandating that  
> their buildings be LEED certified, or already operate under  
> enabling legislation requiring certification.  Recently, I have  
> been faced with many questions that all come down to this basic query:
>
>     "What is the value of LEED Certification to us as the end  
> user?" or more to the point, "Exactly what value does certification  
> provide for the thousands of taxpayer dollars this is costing?"
>
> They have no problem with the consultant's costs to perform the  
> steps necessary to evaluate design, materials, products,  
> procedures, etc that clearly have a positive impact for the end  
> user.  Their difficulty is in the costs of documenting and  
> receiving LEED certification and to be honest, I am having some  
> difficulty in convincing them of the value of the process.
>
> Before anybody starts flaming me, let me say I see the value in  
> certification.  To most of the practicing design professionals and  
> facility managers in our region, knowledge of sustainable design is  
> limited to what they read in the NYT on Sunday over coffee at the  
> local book store on Main Street.  Through personal experience, I  
> have found I have to constantly remind consultants that this is not  
> a slam/dunk process, that careful consideration must be given to  
> each of the target areas, and that they are required to consider  
> thoughtful solutions that are an improvement to the built  
> environment while carefully evluating the cost associated with  
> these solutions.  The largest value I see in the certification  
> process is one of oversight - goals are defined, designed and  
> constructed through a somewhat complex matrix.  Certification is a  
> "third party" evaluation that provides the mechanism to clearly  
> state that the goals have definitively been achieved, and there is  
> value in this.  Especially  where professional knowledge of  
> sustainable design is in it's infancy.  Without certification can  
> the owner ever truly know that the sustainable design program  
> requirements have been met?  It becomes an issue of trust bewteen  
> Owner/Consultant, which is the crux of their query.
>
> Their question then becomes, "If it is part of our program to  
> follow sustainable design objectives, and the consultant can  
> provide documentation, discussion and recommendations based on such  
> practices, what more can LEED certification provide?"  There are  
> many obvious answers to this which I have outlined previously, but  
> this does not seem to be swaying them because of the trust they  
> have in their consultants.  I have tried to present a case where a  
> prime consultant may be commissioned to do work that has little  
> oversight or quality control, and the only way the Owner can  
> confirm the services were performed is through certification.   
> While they agree that this may be an issue, they point out that  
> historically they commission firms that are very careful about  
> doing what they say they are going to do (and document  
> everything.)   The final question from them;
>
> "Wouldn't it be more prudent to take upper 5 figure registration  
> fees and apply it to [insert any envelope or IAQ improvement  you  
> can think of]?"
>
> For sake of discussion, ignore the obvious answer of confirmation  
> of multiple systems.  I'm looking for other added values if anybody  
> has any suggetions.
>
> I'm going to quit babbing on and see what kind of responses pop  
> up.  I have discussed this over the past few weeks with design  
> professionals and green building advocates.   The one thing I have  
> consistenty noticed is that design professionals are experiencing  
> the same issue with clients, and that green building advocates  
> leave feeling like I am not the best example of LEED AP or  
> supporter of sustainable design and green buildings,  which I find  
> incredibly frustrating.  Advocates that I have spoken to outside of  
> design and engineering professions seem to feel that the value of  
> LEED certification as a "third party" confirmation is obvious, and  
> discussion over.  This includes a discussion with a USGBC  
> representative, that actually deteriorated to the point where I had  
> to end the conversation because she felt like I was the one that  
> needed convincing, no matter how many times I stated that I was  
> asking for assistance in making the arguement for certification.   
> The people that are asking these questions are intelligent, and are  
> looking for the support they know they will need when the quetion  
> arises from a not so enlightened taypayer advocate group, or school  
> board member.   They are not satisfied with certification as  
> confirmation, and I feel ike this issue is at a critical point for  
> many public agencies here.
>
> So I'm rooting around to see if anybody out there may have some  
> other ideas, experienced the same issues, etc.
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