The Johnsons are some of the newest residents at The Casey, a LEED certified urban high-rise condo in Portland, Oregon. While the Johnsons were specifically shopping with an environmentally conscious eye, The Casey wasn’t their only choice of new “green” or “sustainable” condo buildings. “We were surprised at the number of options we had even in a green-aware city like Portland” said Mrs. Johnson.

But whether you live in a green-belt city like Portland, OR, or a smaller city in a developing country, condo projects that can claim sustainable building credentials are all the rage. In fact 2008 may be the year condo enthusiasts find it nearly impossible not to run smack into the global green building initiatives being touted by governments, marketed by the world’s largest developers, promoted by the most famous architects, and organized by NGO’s like the US Green Building Council.

Once the province of fringe environmentalists and largely ignored by developers and related industries, green building has become mainstream - and big business too. The United States Green Building Council estimates green products and services annual sales will top $60 billion by 2010.

Clearly numbers like that indicate the movement is more than just a fad, but for people who think they’ve seen this “show” before - they have! Green building movements have had their “15 minutes of fame” before, and they came and went riding the same horse - a small number of eco-builders and a few environmentally sensitive buyers.

This movement, however, has touched a much wider demographic and includes induction by all the aforementioned related industries, and investment by the world’s largest financial institutions. Simultaneous commitment by an increasing number of both supply-side developers and demand-side end-users would seem to guarantee the movement a longer “career” this time around.

THE LEEDING STANDARD
Not only is green building getting the attention of new condo buyers, sustainable building practices are also changing the way architects, planners, builders, engineers, suppliers, and manufacturers think about their respective jobs. In larger markets like New York and other progressive markets around the world it’s no longer acceptable to build a new condo tower without addressing the environmental impact and sustainability of the building over the long-term.

To date the standards bearer for green building, and the one most industries have coalesced around is LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) - a point-based system agreed upon by the US Green Building Council’s 12,000 plus global members. The LEED standard covers five key areas of environmental concern - sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection, and indoor environmental quality. Each of the five key areas offer the builder a menu of items from which they are allowed to select LEED approved sustainable practices. As long as points are obtained from each of the five key areas a builder is free to determine how they will reach the point total needed to achieve the desired level of certification - currently called Silver, Gold and Platinum.

In addition to offering LEED certification for building green projects, an important part of USGBC’s services are LEED educational classes attended by industry employees around the country. The USGBC also offers an individual certification for those who want to become fully steeped in the LEED building certification process. Industry professionals who obtain certification by attending USGBC classes ostensibly make themselves more valuable in the market place - a consideration that seems to hold a lot of value for the future as sustainable building practices are just hitting stride.

While largely voluntary, green building in the US, and specifically LEED is more recently getting a push from local and state governments. Some states for example have mandated that all new government buildings meet at least one LEED standard. In Portland, the city and a local non-profit are working together to award grants to project winners who use innovative technologies that spur conservation, and in a separate program the city offers tax credits to energy-saving projects. Similarly, the state of Nevada extends privately funded green developments a 35% reduction on property taxes.

Even as these organizations and industry leaders have come together to codify and systematize building the work/live infrastructure of the future, the larger question of just what constitutes a green building is more elusive and harder to define. An older definition by the United Nations and one used by the US Department of Energy’s “Energy Star” program which limited the scope to just the building structure have more recently given way to the LEED philosophy of including how the building impacts its surroundings (which is implied in the name LEED itself).

However defined though, the LEED certification process is growing rapidly. Currently 41 different countries as diverse as Canada, Mexico, and India have LEED application projects underway. (In part two learn more about LEED international projects).

BANK ON IT
One factor that is helping to propel LEED to the forefront of the building industry is that sustainable building practices are more than just accepted now, they are often demanded by both bankers and the building supply chain. Those two groups together recently signed a statement urging the US Congress to enact strict limits on greenhouse gases (Congress has yet to act).

But bankers are not just urging others to take action. The largest financial institutions have began to act like role models by employing sustainable practices in their own corporate office buildings. For example, Bank of America’s new 55-story corporate tower in midtown Manhattan will heat itself with clean-burning natural gas, cool itself with ice, and use “grey-water” to flush toilets rather than pure drinking water.

In addition to visible acts like these, bankers are also rolling out their own green investment initiatives to encourage more green commerce in real estate. Bank of America has pledged $20 billion to encourage the growth of environmentally-sustainable business practices through lending and investment, and for their part Citibank has allocated $50 billion to support the growth of alternative energy.

GIVE ME CERTIFICATION OR GIVE ME DEATH
The process of getting LEED certified starts with an application to the US Green Building Council stating the level of certification applied for and just how you’ll meet the standard. During the construction of the project the developer must keep track of the materials and methods used all the way up to building completion. A LEED trained inspector reviews the project site and combines the on-site findings with the architectural plans to arrive at an awarded point total.

The point system awards 1 point for each standard met - the more sustainable practices a building utilizes the higher its point total. In “LEED Speak” 52 points equals a Platinum certification, the highest awarded, 39 points is needed to reach the Gold level, and 33 will get you a Silver certification.

An obvious question one might ask about LEED is why would a developer put themselves through such a rigorous and costly process - and one which is completely voluntary? Not only is the process of obtaining certification detailed and time consuming, following the standards are often more costly to builders because “green” products sell at a premium since there are no scale economies, and extra-skilled in-demand labor is sometimes required for newer green technologies.

While there isn’t a single answer that all developers hang their hat on, the USGBC submits that the most important reason for following the process to obtain a certification is “an increased asset value once the project is completed.” While that may be true for the longer-term, probably even more prepossessing for developers are the immediate benefits that have more to do with marketing appeal to the end user - such as 25%-35% less energy use than a conventional building, reduced waste sent to landfills, occupant health advantages, and then finally as the USGBC says the ability to “demonstrate an owner’s commitment to environmental stewardship and social responsibility.”

MARKET ME GREEN
The concept that many of the benefits of LEED certification is more about marketing appeal than monetary savings for either the builder or the eventual buyer is indeed not lost on the USGBC who also offers new construction condo projects the opportunity to become “pre-certified” after submitting construction plans of the uncompleted project on paper.

This LEED service is seemingly designed to allow developers to market their project as “green” even before construction starts in order to appeal to consumers like the Johnsons who are driving much of the current demand for eco-sensitive condo buildings.

The cost of pre-certifying projects for USGBC members is $2500, which is actually more than some smaller projects will pay for the full certification. This program alone underscores how important green marketing is now to the overall success of newly announced high-rise condo projects, and the concept is underscored by a number of high profile condo projects such as the Burj Dubai and The Chicago Spire both of which feature LEED certification goals in their marketing material under the USGBC pre-certify program.

Now that the bar has been set, major condo projects who can’t promote their buildings as “sustainable” with one of the three LEED stamps of approval run the risk of being shunned on the demand side by an increasing number of buyers, especially in the luxury market, who seek out green building practices. Included in this demand demographic is previously ambivalent buyers caught up in green marketing schemes now hugely in fashion. Many of them may not fully understand the benefits of green technology in terms of the affected resource, but as long as buying green is kept simple it seems almost anyone can be sold on the idea - whether it promotes true sustainability or not. Luckily, much of the current wave of green practices do.

LEEDING THE WAY
If there is any single project that could propel LEED to a new level of acceptance it would be CityCenter in Las Vegas - a massive $8 billion dollar privately funded development that is vocal about its intent to be awarded LEED’s Silver certification, and the largest project of its kind to achieve LEED recognition.

CityCenter says it will feature low-flow bathroom fixtures, a “highly efficient irrigation system,” materials that reduce VOC (volatile organic compound) emissions, and a co-generation power solution that will employ excess heat from the on-site power plant to heat water, relieving the strain on the larger Las Vegas power grid.

In an ironic twist it seems natural to wonder if in this case in particular the certification of such a high-profile project like CityCenter on balance is actually more important to the US Green Building Council than to CityCenter. One can’t help but wonder how much leverage the USBGC may have after the largest project in recent memory commits to and follows through with its stated goal of obtaining Silver certification.

Even if the irony is partially true though, LEED certification is still extremely important to CityCenter, and the fact that the project is in Nevada brings an added incentive. As mentioned above residential projects in Nevada who meet LEED requirements are rewarded with a 35% property tax reduction over the life of the property. For CityCenter that represents a big pile of cash no matter how much extra it costs to follow LEED regimentation on the way to certification.

THE LEED SEED
Even though the USGBC’s LEED certification program is emerging to perhaps become the favored world standard, it had a relatively auspicious beginning. In 1993 Rick Fedrizzi, David Gottfried and Mike Italiano began an organization to act as environmental education and building catalyst of the largest builders in the US. At the time US green building practices were well behind fairly common green building practices in much of western Europe, so the USGBC was seeking a way to make the same standards more common in the US, a consumer of most of the world’s energy, and also the world’s largest polluter.

For the first few years LEED had difficulty gaining traction, but that all changed after the recent media frenzy challenged industry to do something about the global warming crisis.

Although the USGBC reports just over 900 completed and certified new buildings, the more than 13,000 current applications signifies just how quickly things have changed for the LEED certification program.

TO LEED AND BEYOND
More recently the USGBC has expanded its rating system into the Green Building Certification Institute (GBCI), a separate organization to handle professional accreditation that as of this writing is mostly about knowing LEED rating guidelines and procedures in order to make the certification process smoother both for the USGBC and developers alike. According to the USGBC more than 41,000 industry professionals have become LEED Accredited Professionals since 2001.

The standard which by now most everyone connected to the industry has on their radar is now seemingly an overnight success. Recent publications of the dangers of greenhouse gases by world-renowned scientists which were then made famous by former US Vice President Al Gore in his documentary movie, The Inconvenient Truth, has all dovetailed perfectly in time for LEED - the green building standard in waiting.

What was a small non-profit ran by a handful of people at the turn of this century now employs over a hundred workers - and still a non-profit. The USGBC is now a multi-armed green build rating system and educational outpost for tens of thousands of the most influential building professionals and related-product industries around the globe.

With a $50 million dollar annual budget and thousands of yet non-participating smaller builders potentially representing thousands of additional candidates for LEED’s Accredited Professional certification exams at $300 plus per exam, plus an unending number of new construction projects by those same small builders who will be looking for a new hook to sell their product in the now stagnate US housing market all adds up to a very bright outlook for LEED on into the next decade.

Learn more about the USGBC and LEED here.

In part two of this story learn about competing world standards to LEED, and hear voices of those in the industry who are critical of LEED favoring a more holistic approach.