So, a friend who kills immense amounts of time at work by reading online magazines forwarded me this article, It’s Way Too Easy Being Green (Slate) about all the ways that architects (and design teams, in general) have found to circumvent the principles of LEED certification for buildings and attain the “green stamp of approval” for buildings that are, fairly obviously, not intended to be any greener than necessitated by the checklist points.
The part that really struck home was the bike racks. I kid you not, the bike racks come up all the time as the picture-perfect loophole in LEED. I could go on for hours… but it really boils down to the fact that people see it as a marketing opportunity and will go to only the minimum lengths necessary to maximize the added value to their product. Is anyone else familiar with LEED? Any opinions how we (as a global society) can take the capitalist aspect out of ideas like this (or at least reduce the influence)?
I assume LEED is some sort of classification system for how “green” your house is? We have energy labels in NL and since this year they are mandatory for all homes.
If I remember correctly, an independent (qualified) advisor comes around to see what your label should be. I am sure though, that there are ways to artificially increase your label.
Please explain LEED in more detail for the non-environment nerds.
You know, the commoners.
“Installing a $395 bike rack is worth the same under the LEED checklist system as installing a $1.3 million environmentally sensitive heating system.”
Argh, that really is bad.
LEED stands for “Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design”, and the premise is that design and operation of buildings should adhere to specific criteria that reduce the environmental impacts of the build environment (houses, stores, schools, roads, and open space).
There are five categories of points, each with a specific focus within the area of construction. One is site construction & landscaping, one is water conservation, one is energy conservation, one is indoor air quality, and the last is kind of a wild card, where people can place “innovative ideas” that don’t fit into another category, but which are believed to increase the environmental soundness of the building.
Was that too much?
Actually, that was about perfect.
So, what you’re saying is that you can scrape by on the bare minimum for air quality and such, but improve your ranking score by throwing some cheap-ass bike racks out front.
basically.
I think teenagers shouldn’t be allowed here. They don’t have a clue about life, why are they trying to look smart?