LEED Trends in 2004
LEED-accredited columnist Tom Paladino identifies five key trends: knowledge-based demand, wide owner adoption, deep sector penetration, strong creative demographics, and innovators pushing limits.
Four years after its debut, the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Rating System continues to make inroads into the development industry. There are over 1,200 registered projects now, and five new LEED products in development. Council membership is now over 4,500 companies, with many of those new members joining because of LEED.
What is driving such a cautious and conservative industry to accelerate adoption of something new and different -- even risky -- at such a pace? The answer is complex but clearly revealed through five key trends: knowledge based demand, wide owner adoption, deep sector penetration, strong creative demographics, and innovators pushing limits.
Knowledge-Based Demand
There is a growing concern about the consequences of what and where we build. Building owners are increasingly focused on how their projects can create environmental, economic and social benefits, as opposed to impacts.
The Internet information age also means that we know more about the consequences of what we build, even if they occur far away from us. Many clients are asking that their projects add value and make improvements in the three areas of people, prosperity and planet.
LEED was shaped by the early adopters of green building, who through the consensus process, embedded these values throughout the standard. The result is an environmental performance target for just about any owner who investigates LEED, and that is driving its adoption.
As the cohort of LEED buildings grows, so, too, does the knowledge of which credits add value, which credits are frivolous and which ones are broken. As the question of cost for green building and LEED continues to be asked, the trends in LEED achievement answer this question. The LEED “slam-dunk scorecard” indicates credits that most projects can earn in green, and ones that most projects do not earn in red. Based on the results of over 90 certified projects, the yellow credits are the ones that are sometimes valuable -- pinpointing where life cycle cost analysis is needed.
Wide Owner Adoption
LEED seems to be just as appealing to the private sector as to the public sector -- the trend is running at about a 50/50 split.
For Herman Miller, a Fortune 500 company, green building offers a superior workplace that is healthier and more productive. Their newest building achieved a Gold rating recently. Abundant daylight, effective ventilation and non-toxic materials reflect the high value placed on worker satisfaction.
For the Seattle Parks Department, LEED helped define features that demonstrated respect for the natural resource base surrounding the building. The Carkeek Park Environmental Learning Center (ELC) provides space for environmental education and stewardship activities and creates community gathering/meeting space. A rooftop rain system and photovoltaic panels harvest water and energy, a move towards buildings that are sustainable.
For both these owners, LEED offers a clear path for incorporating green building features in a rational, defensible manner. Regardless of an owner’s motives for wanting a different outcome to their capital improvement projects, the rating system has created a common vocabulary for buying and selling green buildings.
With this wide spread influence, the LEED program has made an impact on the professionals that deliver construction and design services. More than 17,000 people have attended LEED workshops to date, and currently, there are more than 7,800 LEED Accredited Professionals worldwide.
Deep Sector Penetration
As most owners learn that a goal of LEED certification can also lead to people, prosperity and planet performance improvements, they are using the standard in new ways to fit their building typology. LEED has been used to drive the design of offices sure, but it is also driving design of schools, wastewater plants, military barracks, retail, courts, banks and even jails!
As these sectors attempt to use LEED in new ways, demand for new LEED products grows. The LEED Existing Building (EB) and Commercial Interiors (CI) products address a market almost an order of magnitude larger than LEED for New Construction (NC).
LEED has also captured the attention of international owners. The CII Green Building Center in Hyderabad, India, is more than a green building -- it is an incubator space for green industry -- creating new businesses that demand more green buildings, further increasing adoption across industry sectors.
LEED has defined the standard for green building, and it offers a simple system that can be adopted by many owners and across a variety of building sectors. But these trends alone cannot explain the accelerating adoption of LEED. There are two more trends being driven, not by the profession, but by the professionals -- people like you and me.
The Creative Demographics
As you investigate LEED certified buildings, a curious pattern emerges at the highest level of the development teams. On green building projects that push the envelope you will invariably find the creative class present.
Described in Anderson and Ray’s book The Cultural Creatives, these professionals are 45 to 55 years of age, they have broad discretion to spend money as they see fit, they push with questions like “why not?” and make statements like “that is what we are going to do, and we are going to do it within budget.” They often have families whose future they feel is dependent on their actions as professionals.
The cities with the most registered LEED projects -- Seattle, Portland, Chicago, San Francisco, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Washington and Austin -- are all ranked within the top 20 American cities per capita of creative class. As a result, we are likely to see increasing examples like the Audubon Building at Debs Center, recently rated LEED Platinum. This interpretive center is joined by the newly renovated NRDC Space in Santa Monica, also rated Platinum.
Innovators Pushing Limits
In the diffusion of innovation theory, innovators lead their peers to new technologies and strategies. As their efforts become known, the early adopters and early majority begin to implement the same moves. A singular characteristic of innovators is that they are not afraid to fail, and if they do so, they are not afraid to try again. Early adopters are also driven by the need for something different, not by cost issues.
This leads to the paradox of the green building market today: the innovators that we hear about, and their projects that certify, reflect only what worked, not what failed. These successful projects are often looked to for clues on how to implement green building cost effectively. But the very characteristics that make these projects succeed -- tenacity and determination -- also result in very little cost data. Innovators cannot conceive of failure, and as a result they spend little energy measuring the cost effectiveness of their attempts -- it simply does not matter. Only getting it built matters.
It should come as no surprise then that the highest scoring LEED projects are built by companies that are innovators within their own business sector. Bold companies with missions aligned to sustainable development are creating bold spaces to live and work in. Companies like Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A., Inc. are opening green building “experiments” such as their Torrance facility, the largest ever to receive a LEED Gold rating at 624,000 square feet of office space.
Right Time, Right Place
These five trends indicate that the time for change in the development industry is upon us. Quality information about what we build and its effect on the environment and people is widely available. Owners are asking for a new outcome; they want to change the relationship of man and the built environment. These concerns are universal: all market sectors are experiencing the same phenomenon.
People are beginning to act. The creative class, those readers of labels, are reading about buildings and they want to buy the best. Best for their people, best for the environment, and best for their business. And at the forefront of this movement are the innovators. They understand that sustainable development is not an option; it is essential for our nation, for the world. They are putting the lead in LEED.
-----
Tom Paladino, PE, LEED AP, Associate AIA, is founder and president of Paladino & Company, a consulting firm specializing in high performance green buildings. The firm is a significant contributor to the development of LEED having conducted the LEED Pilot Program, created the LEED Version 2.0 Reference Guide and reviewed over 70 LEED applications on behalf of the USGBC. Paladino is a member of the U.S. Green Building Council National Board of Directors and past co-chair of the LEED Steering Committee.
This column has been reprinted courtesy of Environmental Design+Construction. It first appeared in the July/August 2004 edition of that publication.
What is driving such a cautious and conservative industry to accelerate adoption of something new and different -- even risky -- at such a pace? The answer is complex but clearly revealed through five key trends: knowledge based demand, wide owner adoption, deep sector penetration, strong creative demographics, and innovators pushing limits.
Knowledge-Based Demand
There is a growing concern about the consequences of what and where we build. Building owners are increasingly focused on how their projects can create environmental, economic and social benefits, as opposed to impacts.
The Internet information age also means that we know more about the consequences of what we build, even if they occur far away from us. Many clients are asking that their projects add value and make improvements in the three areas of people, prosperity and planet.
LEED was shaped by the early adopters of green building, who through the consensus process, embedded these values throughout the standard. The result is an environmental performance target for just about any owner who investigates LEED, and that is driving its adoption.
As the cohort of LEED buildings grows, so, too, does the knowledge of which credits add value, which credits are frivolous and which ones are broken. As the question of cost for green building and LEED continues to be asked, the trends in LEED achievement answer this question. The LEED “slam-dunk scorecard” indicates credits that most projects can earn in green, and ones that most projects do not earn in red. Based on the results of over 90 certified projects, the yellow credits are the ones that are sometimes valuable -- pinpointing where life cycle cost analysis is needed.
Wide Owner Adoption
LEED seems to be just as appealing to the private sector as to the public sector -- the trend is running at about a 50/50 split.
For Herman Miller, a Fortune 500 company, green building offers a superior workplace that is healthier and more productive. Their newest building achieved a Gold rating recently. Abundant daylight, effective ventilation and non-toxic materials reflect the high value placed on worker satisfaction.
For the Seattle Parks Department, LEED helped define features that demonstrated respect for the natural resource base surrounding the building. The Carkeek Park Environmental Learning Center (ELC) provides space for environmental education and stewardship activities and creates community gathering/meeting space. A rooftop rain system and photovoltaic panels harvest water and energy, a move towards buildings that are sustainable.
For both these owners, LEED offers a clear path for incorporating green building features in a rational, defensible manner. Regardless of an owner’s motives for wanting a different outcome to their capital improvement projects, the rating system has created a common vocabulary for buying and selling green buildings.
With this wide spread influence, the LEED program has made an impact on the professionals that deliver construction and design services. More than 17,000 people have attended LEED workshops to date, and currently, there are more than 7,800 LEED Accredited Professionals worldwide.
Deep Sector Penetration
As most owners learn that a goal of LEED certification can also lead to people, prosperity and planet performance improvements, they are using the standard in new ways to fit their building typology. LEED has been used to drive the design of offices sure, but it is also driving design of schools, wastewater plants, military barracks, retail, courts, banks and even jails!
As these sectors attempt to use LEED in new ways, demand for new LEED products grows. The LEED Existing Building (EB) and Commercial Interiors (CI) products address a market almost an order of magnitude larger than LEED for New Construction (NC).
LEED has also captured the attention of international owners. The CII Green Building Center in Hyderabad, India, is more than a green building -- it is an incubator space for green industry -- creating new businesses that demand more green buildings, further increasing adoption across industry sectors.
LEED has defined the standard for green building, and it offers a simple system that can be adopted by many owners and across a variety of building sectors. But these trends alone cannot explain the accelerating adoption of LEED. There are two more trends being driven, not by the profession, but by the professionals -- people like you and me.
The Creative Demographics
As you investigate LEED certified buildings, a curious pattern emerges at the highest level of the development teams. On green building projects that push the envelope you will invariably find the creative class present.
Described in Anderson and Ray’s book The Cultural Creatives, these professionals are 45 to 55 years of age, they have broad discretion to spend money as they see fit, they push with questions like “why not?” and make statements like “that is what we are going to do, and we are going to do it within budget.” They often have families whose future they feel is dependent on their actions as professionals.
The cities with the most registered LEED projects -- Seattle, Portland, Chicago, San Francisco, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Washington and Austin -- are all ranked within the top 20 American cities per capita of creative class. As a result, we are likely to see increasing examples like the Audubon Building at Debs Center, recently rated LEED Platinum. This interpretive center is joined by the newly renovated NRDC Space in Santa Monica, also rated Platinum.
Innovators Pushing Limits
In the diffusion of innovation theory, innovators lead their peers to new technologies and strategies. As their efforts become known, the early adopters and early majority begin to implement the same moves. A singular characteristic of innovators is that they are not afraid to fail, and if they do so, they are not afraid to try again. Early adopters are also driven by the need for something different, not by cost issues.
This leads to the paradox of the green building market today: the innovators that we hear about, and their projects that certify, reflect only what worked, not what failed. These successful projects are often looked to for clues on how to implement green building cost effectively. But the very characteristics that make these projects succeed -- tenacity and determination -- also result in very little cost data. Innovators cannot conceive of failure, and as a result they spend little energy measuring the cost effectiveness of their attempts -- it simply does not matter. Only getting it built matters.
It should come as no surprise then that the highest scoring LEED projects are built by companies that are innovators within their own business sector. Bold companies with missions aligned to sustainable development are creating bold spaces to live and work in. Companies like Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A., Inc. are opening green building “experiments” such as their Torrance facility, the largest ever to receive a LEED Gold rating at 624,000 square feet of office space.
Right Time, Right Place
These five trends indicate that the time for change in the development industry is upon us. Quality information about what we build and its effect on the environment and people is widely available. Owners are asking for a new outcome; they want to change the relationship of man and the built environment. These concerns are universal: all market sectors are experiencing the same phenomenon.
People are beginning to act. The creative class, those readers of labels, are reading about buildings and they want to buy the best. Best for their people, best for the environment, and best for their business. And at the forefront of this movement are the innovators. They understand that sustainable development is not an option; it is essential for our nation, for the world. They are putting the lead in LEED.
-----
Tom Paladino, PE, LEED AP, Associate AIA, is founder and president of Paladino & Company, a consulting firm specializing in high performance green buildings. The firm is a significant contributor to the development of LEED having conducted the LEED Pilot Program, created the LEED Version 2.0 Reference Guide and reviewed over 70 LEED applications on behalf of the USGBC. Paladino is a member of the U.S. Green Building Council National Board of Directors and past co-chair of the LEED Steering Committee.
This column has been reprinted courtesy of Environmental Design+Construction. It first appeared in the July/August 2004 edition of that publication.