Being “green” is a mind set
Being “green” is a mind set. Green Building design is also a mind set and can be successfully achieved to different extents without LEED certification. Experienced designers already take into consideration environmental factors such as solar orientation, shade, landscaped areas, storm water retention, energy efficiency, local material availability, etc.
I have spoken with a top major city planner and he questioned why there is a separate review process. He pointed out that most cities already review plans for conformance to the International Energy Efficiency Code, customers are already paying for a building review fee, and that they could also review for conformance to any LEED or adopted sustainability standards.
States and local municipalities can easily come up with their own energy efficiency and sustainability standards, such as California has done. At this point LEED certification is still an option and the IEEC already addresses a building envelope’s thermal efficiency and its maximum wattage allowance for new designs.
Soon, green design standards will become the norm, will be required for all buildings and administered at the local municipality level.
