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| Bank of America Tower. NYC, NY. First commercial high-rise to achieve LEED Platinum |
For those who are unfamiliar with LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), the program is an international green building certification that is supervised by the U.S. Green Building Council. Though not the only green building certification around, it is definitely one of the most recognized and established in the United States. Corporations, nonprofits, and local and national government bodies have all used LEED as their go-to green building standard over the last two decades. Points are awarded based upon a project’s documented achievements, such as a reduction in building energy use, and the points are tallied against LEED’s achievement scale of Certified, Silver, Gold, and Platinum.
Retrofit teams have not only noticed but flocked to the LEED-EB certification as a way to guide their project and give credibility to their energy efficiency efforts. As of the end of 2011, LEED-certified existing buildings have surpassed LEED’s flagship certification, LEED for New Construction, by 15 million square feet in the past year, with iconic buildings such as New York’s Empire State Building, San Francisco's Transamerica Pyramid, and Taiwan’s Taipei 101 jumping on board of the LEED-EB track.
The Empire State Building retrofit for example is predicted to lower the building’s energy cost by $4.4 million annually, a 38% savings for the 90 year old building. These energy savings led the Empire State Building to earn a three year payback on the overall project while at the same time earning LEED Platinum, LEED’s highest certification level. Retrofit teams like those on the Empire State Building project are finding that following a green building certification system such as LEED-EB not only can help (and possibly improve) the energy retrofit process to achieve a quick investment return, but expand the scope of improvements beyond energy savings alone. But the LEED certification process goes beyond being a useful roadmap to designing a better retrofit- it can help build better accountability and marketability into your project as well.
One of the LEED’s biggest strengths is that LEED is designed as an independent third party verification process. While some argue that this extra layer of “bureaucracy” to an already complex project such as a retrofit is also LEED’s worst attribute, having a third party verifying the environmental, social, and economical claims of your retrofit does add a layer of verified accountability to any project. Whether it’s bureaucracy or accountability, ultimately going through the LEED certification process adds something financially tangible that no self certification or basic retrofit can provide: LEED’s attribute of being useful as an effective external marketing tool for your building.
As a recognized and popular brand that reaches beyond the building industry and into the general population, external marketability of your building to potential tenants or employees can be a real advantage few building owners consider when thinking about a retrofit. LEED has become such a well recognized designation for buildings that studies done over the years have found LEED certified buildings have been linked to lower vacancy rates, higher assessed and market values even the ability to attract, retain, and improve employee productivity. For building owners looking at doing an energy retrofit, this added value that a LEED certification provides is a real economic benefit building owners should be considering when moving forward on their retrofit. While focusing on the ROI of an energy retrofit is a smart business decision, considering going the extra mile and accomplishing a LEED certification can make your retrofit project an even better long term investment in the end.