04-30-2014
LEED v4
FXFOWLE is no stranger to the U.S. Green Building Council's green building rating system, LEED, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. Currently LEED 2009, or version 3, is being used on many projects in the office. However, once June of 2015 rolls around a new version of LEED is stepping up - LEED v4. As part of FXFOWLE's Green April, Junko Nakagawa and Craig Graber, of Atelier Ten, came to discuss the details of the rating system that have been changed for v4.
Overall, LEED v4 is more comprehensive and emphasizes integrative processes. The new version streamlines the system's goals and in the process increases the technical rigor and performance thresholds. This means that a building will have to be more sustainable and use less energy to meet the same target rating in LEED v4 then it did in LEED 2009.
Some things have not changed between LEED 2009 and v4. The system is still based on 100 points, with additional points in Regional Priority, Innovation, and LEED AP credential. However, in LEED v4, there are many fundamental changes - there is a new credit category which now addresses 21 market sectors, including international requirements and is more focused on performance. The system goals in LEED v4 were simplified into seven categories to more practically allocate points per credit. The new system goals are: climate change, human health, biodiversity, water, sustainable materials, community, and economy. Climate change is still a big focus with many points allocated to addressing this concern. The next largest category is human health, giving it a much larger focus than previous versions. Another significant change is that there are no more credit numbers, a fact that some users are frustrated with and others don't mind.
The Sustainable Sites category from LEED 2009 was divided into two categories, creating Location and Transportation. There are a few significant changes to some of the old credits to increase connectivity. The credit for Bicycle Storage is now required to also be connected to an existing bicycle network. An Alternate compliance path may be taken to earn points for the new credit LEED for Neighborhood Development Location. Among the significant changes to the credits that remain in Sustainable Sites is the Site Assessment credit for early analysis of site factors. A credit that was changed to make it easier to attain in a city is Light Pollution Reduction, a fact that many in the office where excited about.
The Water Efficiency category increased the amount of savings for the baseline reduction and now requires all LEED buildings to have whole building water metering and data sharing under the new prerequisite Building-Level Water Metering. Indoor and Outdoor water use have also been separated under LEED v4, and cooling tower water use is now included.
A significant change to the Energy Efficiency category is that the baseline of all energy costs are now measured from ASHRAE 90.1-2010 instead of ASHRAE 90.1-2007. This new energy code requires an 18.5% improvement from the previous one, and the LEED prerequisite is still 5% better than that (for New Construction). This means that buildings certified under LEED v4 will have to achieve much more significant energy savings than in previous versions. This is more easily done utilizing an integrated design approach, which is what LEED v4 is encouraging. Also, the Previous Measurement and Verification credit was absorbed into the new prerequisite Building-Level Energy Metering requiring all projects to track energy consumption. This is a welcome change, considering that in the previous Green April Lecture, we learned that commissioning the building can catch mistakes in energy consumption.
One of the biggest changes in LEED v4 is in the Materials and Resources category. Focus has shifted to impacts on human and environmental health. Encouragement of material transparency can earn points for using products that have HPDs (Health Product Declaration), or EPDs (Environmental Product Declaration). A whole-building Life-Cycle impact reduction is utilized to encourage products where lifecycle innovation is available. The Indoor Environmental Quality category has many threshold changes and some credits, such as daylighting, will be easier to achieve.
There are many changes to thresholds and credit requirements throughout LEED v4; all of these details create a more robust and effective green building rating system. It will be more difficult to design buildings that can achieve high levels of certification under LEED v4, but FXFOWLE is more than up to the challenge.
Overall, LEED v4 is more comprehensive and emphasizes integrative processes. The new version streamlines the system's goals and in the process increases the technical rigor and performance thresholds. This means that a building will have to be more sustainable and use less energy to meet the same target rating in LEED v4 then it did in LEED 2009.
Some things have not changed between LEED 2009 and v4. The system is still based on 100 points, with additional points in Regional Priority, Innovation, and LEED AP credential. However, in LEED v4, there are many fundamental changes - there is a new credit category which now addresses 21 market sectors, including international requirements and is more focused on performance. The system goals in LEED v4 were simplified into seven categories to more practically allocate points per credit. The new system goals are: climate change, human health, biodiversity, water, sustainable materials, community, and economy. Climate change is still a big focus with many points allocated to addressing this concern. The next largest category is human health, giving it a much larger focus than previous versions. Another significant change is that there are no more credit numbers, a fact that some users are frustrated with and others don't mind.
The Sustainable Sites category from LEED 2009 was divided into two categories, creating Location and Transportation. There are a few significant changes to some of the old credits to increase connectivity. The credit for Bicycle Storage is now required to also be connected to an existing bicycle network. An Alternate compliance path may be taken to earn points for the new credit LEED for Neighborhood Development Location. Among the significant changes to the credits that remain in Sustainable Sites is the Site Assessment credit for early analysis of site factors. A credit that was changed to make it easier to attain in a city is Light Pollution Reduction, a fact that many in the office where excited about.
The Water Efficiency category increased the amount of savings for the baseline reduction and now requires all LEED buildings to have whole building water metering and data sharing under the new prerequisite Building-Level Water Metering. Indoor and Outdoor water use have also been separated under LEED v4, and cooling tower water use is now included.
A significant change to the Energy Efficiency category is that the baseline of all energy costs are now measured from ASHRAE 90.1-2010 instead of ASHRAE 90.1-2007. This new energy code requires an 18.5% improvement from the previous one, and the LEED prerequisite is still 5% better than that (for New Construction). This means that buildings certified under LEED v4 will have to achieve much more significant energy savings than in previous versions. This is more easily done utilizing an integrated design approach, which is what LEED v4 is encouraging. Also, the Previous Measurement and Verification credit was absorbed into the new prerequisite Building-Level Energy Metering requiring all projects to track energy consumption. This is a welcome change, considering that in the previous Green April Lecture, we learned that commissioning the building can catch mistakes in energy consumption.
One of the biggest changes in LEED v4 is in the Materials and Resources category. Focus has shifted to impacts on human and environmental health. Encouragement of material transparency can earn points for using products that have HPDs (Health Product Declaration), or EPDs (Environmental Product Declaration). A whole-building Life-Cycle impact reduction is utilized to encourage products where lifecycle innovation is available. The Indoor Environmental Quality category has many threshold changes and some credits, such as daylighting, will be easier to achieve.
There are many changes to thresholds and credit requirements throughout LEED v4; all of these details create a more robust and effective green building rating system. It will be more difficult to design buildings that can achieve high levels of certification under LEED v4, but FXFOWLE is more than up to the challenge.