Chapter 10: Building Certifications - Scf - State College of Florida

Chapter 10: Building Certifications
Leadership in Energy, Environment and Design (LEED)
LEED was covered in Chapter 4 as related to the professional credential. In this chapter,
LEED is discussed as a building certification.
LEED is an internationally
recognized green building
certification system developed
by the U.S. Green Building
Council (USGBC) which
started in 1998.
LEED certification is flexible
enough to apply to all building
types and it works throughout the building lifecycle; design and construction, operations
and maintenance, tenant fit-out and significant retrofit. LEED for Neighborhood
Development extends the benefits of LEED beyond the building footprint.

Examples of the Various LEED Building Type Designations:
Figure 1: LEED Platinum HGTV Green Home 2009. The $700,000 home was designed by Carlson Studio Architects. The green home
features solar water heating, solar electric panels, low-VOC paints and adhesives, ICF walls, spray foam roof insulation, low-e
windows, and the Spanish-style design will provide some good overhangs for friendly summer shade (Preston, 2009).
Figure 2: Affordable LEED Platinum Habitat for Humanity House.
Designed on a $100,000 budget (Kahn, 2011). This home design
used a surefire way to keep construction costs down; the entire
home is built to standard sizes. This allows for quick assembly,
consistent building figures, and minimal waste.

Figure 3: State College of Florida LEED Gold Certified Medical Simulation
Building in Lakewood Ranch. The 1,600-square-foot chiller plant uses a
Thermal Energy Storage (TES) system to provide air conditioning for the
campus during peak times. The chiller plant is designed to help SCF reduce
annual energy costs by nearly 30 percent. The chiller plant produces ice
during off peak hours and uses the massive amounts of ice to cool the
buildings during peak operating hours.

Figure 4: Florida Atlantic University's College of Engineering and
Computer Science Building is LEED Platinum Certified. The
building uses 40% less water than a typical facility, utilizes
Florida native and adaptive vegetation, diverted more than 80%
of the construction waste from landfills, and used local
materials in its construction.

Figure 5: Sonoma Mountain Village is a LEED Platinum, 200-acre, mixed-use, solar powered, zero waste community internationally
recognized as the first One Planet Community in North America and one of the World’s Greenest Communities. It is located 40 miles
north of San Francisco, CA.
Figure 6: New York’s iconic Empire State Building has
just undergone a green retrofit which has earned a
LEED-Gold certification. The 102-story skyscraper,
which was build 80 years ago, is expected to reduce
energy use by more than $4.4 million annually, cut
carbon emissions by 105,000 metric tons over a 15year
period and provide a payback in slightly more
than three years.

What LEED Measures:
LEED promotes a whole-building approach to sustainability by recognizing performance in
key areas:
Materials and resources
Awareness
and Education
Water Efficiency
Indoor
Environmental
Quality
Innovation in
Design
A description of these categories from the USGBC website is in the table below.
Locations and Linkages
Regional Priority

Sustainable Sites
Site selection and development are important components of a building’s sustainability. The
Sustainable Sites category discourages development on previously undeveloped land; seeks to
minimize a building's impact on ecosystems and waterways; encourages regionally appropriate
landscaping; rewards smart transportation choices; controls stormwater runoff; and promotes
reduction of erosion, light pollution, heat island effect and construction-related pollution.
Water Efficiency
Buildings are major users of our potable water supply. The goal of the Water Efficiency category
is to encourage smarter use of water, inside and out. Water reduction is typically achieved
through more efficient appliances, fixtures and fittings inside and water-conscious landscaping
outside.
Energy & Atmosphere
According to the U.S. Department of Energy, buildings use 39% of the energy and 74% of the
electricity produced each year in the United States. The Energy & Atmosphere category
encourages a wide variety of energy-wise strategies: commissioning; energy use monitoring;
efficient design and construction; efficient appliances, systems and lighting; the use of
renewable and clean sources of energy, generated on-site or off-site; and other innovative
measures.
Materials & Resources
During both the construction and operations phases, buildings generate a lot of waste and
use large quantities of materials and resources. The Materials & Resources category
encourages the selection of sustainably grown, harvested, produced and transported products
and materials. It promotes waste reduction as well as reuse and recycling, and it particulary
rewards the reduction of waste at a product’s source.
Indoor Environmental Quality
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that Americans spend about 90% of their
day indoors, where the air quality can be significantly worse than outside. The Indoor
Environmental Quality category promotes strategies that improve indoor air as well as those that
provide access to natural daylight and views and improve acoustics.
Locations & Linkages
The LEED for Homes rating system recognizes that much of a home's impact on the
environment comes from where it is located and how it fits into its community. The Locations &
Linkages category encourages building on previously developed or infill sites and away from
environmentally sensitive areas. Credits reward homes that are built near already-existing
infrastructure, community resources and transit – in locations that promote access to open
space for walking, physical activity and time outdoors.

Awareness & Education
The LEED for Homes rating system acknowledges that a home is only truly green if the people
who live in it use its green features to maximum effect. The Awareness & Education category
encourages home builders and real estate professionals to provide homeowners, tenants and
building managers with the education and tools they need to understand what makes their home
green and how to make the most of those features.
Innovation in Design
The Innovation in Design category provides bonus points for projects that use innovative
technologies and strategies to improve a building’s performance well beyond what is required by
other LEED credits, or to account for green building considerations that are not specifically
addressed elsewhere in LEED. This category also rewards projects for including a LEED
Accredited Professional on the team to ensure a holistic, integrated approach to the design and
construction process.
Regional Priority
USGBC’s regional councils, chapters and affiliates have identified the most important local
environmental concerns, and six LEED credits addressing these local priorities have
been selected for each region of the country. A project that earns a regional priority credit will
earn one bonus point in addition to any points awarded for that credit. Up to four extra points
can be earned in this way. See the Regional Priority Credits for your state »
(U.S. Green Building Council, 2011)

How to Achieve Certification
LEED Points are awarded on a 100-point scale, and
credits are weighted to reflect their potential impact
on the environment. There are 10 bonus points, four
of which address regionally specific environmental
issues.
A project must satisfy all prerequisites and earn a
minimum number of points to obtain various levels of
certification:
LEED Certified 40+ points
LEED Silver 50+ points
LEED Gold 60+ points
LEED Platinum 80+ points
The Committee on the Environment, COTE
The Committee on the Environment
(COTE), which is part of the
American Institute of Architects
(AIA), works to advance,
disseminate, and advocate—to the
profession, the building industry, the
academy, and the public—design
practices that integrate built and natural systems and enhance both the design quality and
environmental performance of the built environment (American Institute of Architects, The,
2011).

COTE is a building certification which takes into account the much of the LEED certification
requirements; however, goes a step further and takes into consideration the following 10
measures:
1. Intent and Innovation
2. Community
3. Site
4. Bioclimatic Design
5. Light & Air
6. Water
7. Energy
8. Materials
9. Long Life
10. Feedback
Annually, the AIA holds the COTE Top Ten Green Projects awards to recognize outstanding
architects who are leaders in incorporating sustainability and environmental responsibility in
their designs. Below are some of the winners.
AIA COTE 2011 Top Ten Green Project:: Cherokee Studios, Los Angeles, California
A description of Cherokee Studios by the architect, Lawrence Scarpa:
“Cherokee Mixed-Use Lofts is an urban infill,
mixed-use, market-rate housing project. The
building is inspired by the series of paintings by
the British artist Patrick Hughes titled,
“Prospectivity”, whose paintings appear to be ever
changing and physically moving while being
viewed. At Cherokee the main architectural
feature of this project is the building’s ownercontrolled
operable double façade system. By
allowing the occupant to adjust, at will, the
operable screens of the building façade, the
facade is virtually redesigned “live” from within
the space, reflecting the occupants of the building
within, in real time. The screens also enhance the
existing streetscape and promote a lively
pedestrian environment. By visually breaking up
the façade into smaller articulated moving
elements, the building appears to move with the
passing cars and people. In effect, it becomes a
live canvas to be painted upon daily or more
often. Like many features of the building, the
façade is multivalent and rich with meaning
performing several roles for formal, functional and
experiential effect.

The perforated anodized
aluminum panels of the
building creates an ever-
changing screen that
sparkles in the sun and
glows at night, while
simultaneously providing
shade to cool the
building, reducing noise,
enhancing privacy, and
still allowing for
spectacular views, great
natural light and
ventilation from ocean
breezes which pass
through its millions of
perforations even when
all panels are closed. The
material reappears as a
strategic arrangement of
screens on the east, west
and south-facing walls, lending a subtle rhythm to the exterior circulation. South-facing
screen walls filter direct sunlight that lends unexpected visual depth while creating a sense
of security for the occupants. Enhancing the structure’s geometric texture, the irregular
array of moveable openings variably extrudes from the building’s surface. Its unique
architectural form and integrated function creates a high-performing building that is an
expression of the people who live there and the environmental and cultural context in which
it is built.
Sustainable Highlights
Cherokee is 40% more energy
efficient than California’s Title 24,
the most demanding energy code in
the United States.
Advanced VFR Cooling and Heating
Comfort System, which was used in
Canada’s new 2010 Olympic Village,
cools and warms floors, ceilings, and
walls to create a perfectly temperate
environment better for respiratory
systems, skin, overall health,
comfort and energy efficiency.
Passive solar design strategies and
proper building orientation, using

the central courtyard between the two residential structures, allows for day lighting on both
sides of every unit and shading, while allowing prevailing breezes to fully pass through the
units for natural ventilation.
Green Roof provides greenery for occupants to enjoy while keeping the building better
insulated, cleaning the air, and reducing storm water runoff.
Water Conservation is accomplished with dual flush toilets, efficient plumbing fixtures, hot
water circulators, and drought tolerate landscaping. All stormwater runoff is collected in a
underground retention basin located in the public right-of-way, the first such stormwater
system in the city of Los Angeles.
A 30kw PV solar system powers all common area electrical loads and approximately 11.5%
of the heating and hot water needs for the building.
The building is located within walking distance to many neighborhood community needs and
services and scores “Walker’s Paradise” (94 out of 100) on walkscore.com
Green Materials and Products are used throughout that are recycled, renewable, and contain
low or no VOC’s.
AIA COTE 2011 Top Ten Green Project: LiveStrong Foundation, Austin, Texas
Below is a description of the Livestrong
Foundation copied from the AIA/COTE
Top Ten Green Projects:
After 10 years of leasing space in a
suburban office building, the Livestrong
Foundation found its permanent home
in the 1950s-era Gulf Coast Paper Co.
(GPC) warehouse in East Austin, an
underserved community in the process
of revitalization.
The adaptive reuse of the GCP warehouse transformed the concrete tilt-wall building to
provide office space, meeting rooms, multi-use facilities, an in-house gym, an open-air
courtyard, and parking for the staff of 62. Ongoing plans call for adding a community-based
cancer-support program to provide direct services, with an emphasis on uninsured and
underinsured East Austin residents.

The building is situated on an inner-city,
culturally diverse, and underserved
neighborhood at the intersection of East 6th
and Robert Martinez. The 30,000 ft2 "block"
floor plate created challenges in providing the
desired daylight and views for the foundation
staff. This challenge was intensified as the
building's zero-lot line relationship with the
site's eastern boundary prevented the
introduction of window openings. The south
façade adjoins the freight railroad right-ofway,
also used as a commuter rail and cyclist
thoroughfare. Achieving LEED Gold
certification, the project reflects the LiveStrong
mission "to inspire and empower people affected by cancer."
Environmental Aspects
Innovation in Adaptive Reuse is the key
to unlocking the potential for sustainable
development in our neglected urban
centers. The existing U.S. building stock
currently exceeds 275 billion ft2 and
offers an unprecedented opportunity for
effective change. The design for the
foundation breathes new life into both
the building and neighborhood, and
provides a model for sustainable urban
renewal.

Key design strategies include:
Opening the facade and roof by use of extensive north-facing saw-tooth clerestories,
flooding the rectangular box with indirect natural light and sky views.
Recycling or reusing 88% of the materials from the demolition of the dilapidated
warehouse.
Re-milling the salvaged roof decking to construct a variety of flexible-use enclosures
or "crates," creating dynamic mixed-use working neighborhoods within the open
office interior.
Embracing the open office concept for everyone. Even the CEO shares common office
and support space with the entire staff. Common support spaces ("crates") direct
traffic flow, define departments, and create interactive work spaces that adapt to
changing needs over time.
Creating a place that contributes to its neighborhood and community.
Repurposing the removed concrete as retaining walls, fountains/garden elements,
and walkways.
Before After

Living Building
The most stringent of building certification discussed in
this text is the International Living Future Institute
Living Building Certification.
In 2006, Seattle architect Jason McLennan introduced
the Living Building Challenge, posing the question “What
if every single act of design and construction made the
world a better place?”
The Living Building Challenge is comprised of seven
performance areas, or ‘Petals’. Petals are subdivided
into a total of twenty Imperatives, each of which focuses
on a specific sphere of influence.
The Living Building ‘Petals’ and Imperatives:
Site: reestablishing balance between nature and the built environment
1. Limits to growth
2. Urban agriculture
3. Habitat exchange
4. Car free living
Water: creating water independent sites,
buildings and communities
5. Net zero water
6. Ecological water flow
Energy: net zero energy
7. 100% energy needs must be supplied on-site renewable energy on a net
annual basis

Health: Maximizing physical and psychological health and wellbeing.
8. Civilized environment: every
occupiable space must have
operable windows that provide
access to fresh air and daylight.
9. Healthy Air
10. Biophilia: project must be designed
to include elements that nurture the
innate human attraction to natural
systems and processes.
Materials: endorsing products and processes that are safe for all species throughout
time.
11. Red list: the project cannot contain worst-in-class materials or chemicals,
such as carcinogens, persistent organic pollutants, bio-accumulative toxins,
and endocrine disruptors.
12. Embodied carbon footprint:
must account for the total carbon
footprint
13. Responsible industry: advocate
for the creation and adoption of
third party certified standards for
sustainable resource extraction
and labor practices.
14. Appropriate sourcing:
incorporate place-based solutions
and contribute to the expansion
of the regional economy
15. Conservation reuse: strive to
reduce or eliminate the
production of waste during
design, construction, operation
and end of life in order to
conserve natural resources.

Equity: supporting a just equitable world
16. Human scale and humane places: must be designed to create human-scaled
rather than automobile-scaled places so that the experience brings out the
best in humanity and promotes culture and interaction.
17. Democracy and social justice: primary transportation must be equally
accessible to all members of the public.
18. Rights to nature: may not block access to or diminish the quality of fresh air,
sunlight and natural waterways
Beauty: celebrating design that creates transformative change
19. Beauty and spirit: must contain design
features intended solely for human
delight and the celebration of culture,
spirit and place
20. Inspiration and education: educational
materials about the performance and
operation of the project must be
provided to the public.

Living Building: Druk White Lotus School: LaDakh
Watch this clip about an amazing architectural feat in India, the Druk White Lotus School. It
is a small Buddhist school founded by His Holiness the 12 th Gyalwang Drukpa in 1992. It
has been make through traditional means with local material and labor. It uses
photovoltaics for power, it is waterless, has composting toilets, passive design and other
sustainable features. Druk White Lotus is school to about 500 primary and secondary
students.

Assignments
USGBC cites the following benefits of engaging students on LEED projects:
“Campuses that implement programs to include students on LEED projects create
opportunities for faculty to incorporate project-based learning into coursework, provide
students valuable hands-on project experience and help the institution lower LEED project
costs. Schools can include students on projects seeking LEED certification for a new or
existing building, which may include working on early planning or assessment tasks, such as
helping to determine which campus facilities are best suited for LEED certification.” (U.S.
Green Building Council, 2011)
Additionally, a school applying for LEED for Schools certification can earn points for the
following student centered activities:
Identify and prioritize greening strategies (i.e., policies and plans first, then
mechanical upgrades)
Research green strategies and technologies
Develop an occupant education program
Conduct an occupant comfort survey
Complete daylighting and views documentation for spaces
Perform energy modeling
Research and develop green procurement guidelines/requirements
Research and develop a green cleaning policy
Develop an education program for staff
Establish and manage a recycling program
Research and develop a solid waste management policy
Assist with occupant and community education
1. Read Chapter 10: Building Certifications
2. Watch the PBS clip on the Druk White Lotus School in India. Answer the essay
question drop box.
3. Complete the three tasks assigned to you on the next page. Use the Internet
and the USGBC information for LEED Green Building Rating system for Existing
Buildings Paper as resources: http://www.usgbc.org/Docs/Existing_Buildings/LEED-
EBvPilot.pdf. Your submission must be professional quality.

Complete daylighting and views documentation for spaces
Develop an occupant education program
Create an occupant comfort survey
Identify and prioritize greening strategies (i.e., policies and plans first, then
mechanical upgrades)
You can use the notes from our walk through. They are located under the lessons
tab under the SCF Energy Audit/Recommendations section.
Establish a recycling program
Research and develop a solid waste management policy
Research and develop a green cleaning policy
Develop an education program for staff
Research and develop green procurement guidelines/requirements