How to keep your credibility talking about LEED

I don’t know who my audience may be with this blog, so I’ll assume you know a little about what is going on in the building industry. The big buzz word today is “green.” LEED is the most prevalent measure for how “green” your building is. LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), a program of the USGBC was originally created to quantify how green your building is (and be able to definitively say my building is greener than yours).

In a seminar at the office today the product representative in his first few points stated “our product is LEED Certified.” This was a big mistake, all credibility lost. In an effort to help everyone on the World Wide Web that is going to say anything about LEED not make a mistake that will have the LEED AP (LEED Accredited Professionals) roll their eyes and turn you off, follow these four points:

1. Only buildings are certified. No people, products, sites, systems, assemblies, or specifications are certified, only completed buildings. Particular products and systems can help you achieve LEED points, but none are a point by themselves.
2. There are four certification levels: Certified, Silver, Gold, or Platinum (no bronze, I actually had someone try to tell me they had designed a Bronze Certified building).
3. People are accredited, not certified (see point 1).
4. It is LEED, not LEEDs. I don’t know what the “s” is supposed to stand for. It is like saying acrost vs. across or irregardless vs. regardless or masonary vs. masonry, I could go on, but I think you get my point, it is wrong.

Understanding the jargon and getting the credentials isn’t an indication you know how to design a green building, just that you aren’t completely incompetent. Only through practicing what we talk about can an architect actually start creating more sustainable buildings. I’m sure I’ll devote many future posts on sustainable design, stay tuned.