ARCH 220 FINAL

Sustainability Building Assessments:

LEED, BREEAM, WELL & LIVING BUILDING CHALLENGE

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TABLE OF CONTENTS LEED

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BREEAM

10-13

WELL

14-17

LIVING BUILDING CHALLENGE

18-21

BIBLIOGRAPHY

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LEED

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Why LEED? LEED was originally created to enhance energy use in buildings in a sustainability context. Below is a graphic from the United States Energy Information Administration (EIA) that gives a good demonstration of why it is important to address energy consumption in buildings. Looking at the graphic you can see that there are four end-use sectors for energy in the United States. Of those three of them, Industrial, Residential, and Commercial, are building related. Combining those three sectors you will find that buildings account for 65% of energy consumption in the United States, meaning architects can have a major impact on the carbon output of our country. Thus LEED was created to give a standardization to give architects more of a concrete goal to shoot for when it comes to energy efficiency and sustainability in buildings.

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LEED OVERVIEW AND CLAIMS -Rating System broken down into 9 parts -Integrative Process (IP) -Location and Transportation (LT) -Sustainable Sites (SS) -Water Efficiency (WE) -Energy and Atmosphere (EA) -Materials and Resources (ME) -Indoor Environmental Quality (EQ) -Innovation (IN) -Regional Priority (RP) -Four Levels -LEED Certified (40-49pts) -LEED Silver (50-59pts) -LEED Gold (60-79pts) -LEED Platinum (80+pts) -Claims (Taken from LEED website) -Economic Benefits -$1.2 billion in energy savings -Attract tenants -Competitive Advantage -Health Benefits -Happier employees -Better air quality -Less pollution -Environmental Benefits -2014 study found 50% reduction in GHGs in LEED Buildings in comparison to conventional buildings -June 2010 study by US Department of Energy -34% reduction in CO2 emissions -25% less energy consumed -11% less water consumed -80 million tons of waste diverted from landfills -89/100 average ENERGY STAR score for LEED project -25% less energy on average used by LEED buildings compared to commercial buildings -1.3 million tons of coal equivalent saved each year -78 million tons of avoided CO2 emissions 7

LEED CERTIFICATION PROCESS

REGISTER

-Go to LEED Online and enter project into Database -Choose which certification to pursue and which credits to pursue

APPLY

-Gather all relevant prerequisite information and documentation -Pay LEED certification fee

REVIEW

-GBCI reviews submitted documentation and returns a preliminary report that can be accepted or disputed

CERTIFICATION

-GBCI renders final verdict on what LEED certification your project is.

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LEED CONS -Lack of post-occupancy data -Most data used for certification is predicted and not from actual use once the project is built.

-Study found that at least 25% of LEED certified buildings did not live up to energy standards predicted from documentation filed.

-Does not weight scoring for things like difficulty, number of occupants, or environmental impact -Famous Norman Foster building at Yale has a LEED Gold certification, but is barely used.

-Become pro forma and is more about scoring points -Encourages “gaming the system”.

-Think of the permeable concrete sidewalks or the bike pump discussed in class.

-You can get points by adding a “video game room” for employees. or a university can get extra points for teaching a green building class in a building -Certification is complex and can add large costs to projects -According to Forbes attempting LEED certification for Federal buildings added $150,000 in taxpayer borne costs.

-Putting the burden of gathering the data and documentation on the owners and architects adds more hours spent on a project and drives up costs.

-Does not award points for region specific sustainable design strategies -Creates cookie cutter buildings that work in a generic climate.

-Under LEED you would get same amount of points for mitigating the cold in a warm climate as you would in a cold climate.

-No point deduction for ignoring parts of their certification -You can earn LEED Platinum, but completely ignore walkability for example.

-Recommends proprietary products instead of giving generic material standards -Wood with a Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI) label is accepted even though wood with a Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) label is not even though they are nearly identical standards.

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BREEAM

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BREEAM OVERVIEW -History -Founding organization Building Research Establishment founded in 1921 -Founded in the UK in 1990 BREEAM was the first sustainability assessment in the world.

-Aim was to create a holistic assessment that was flexible enough to be scaled up or down and adapt to buildings specific region.

-Gone beyond buildings and has started to assess city blocks, neighborhoods, and cities with BREEAM Communities in 2011.

-Uses 3rd party assessors to ensure impartialness and integrity.

-Take burden off of designers and stakeholders to provide documentation.

-Work towards the UN’s sustainability goals.

-Operating in 50 countries worldwide. (Came to the US in 2007) -Rating System broken down into 10 categories -Energy -Health and Well Being -Innovation -Land Use -Materials -Management -Pollution -Transport -Waste -Water -Six Levels -Unclassified 1 star (below 30%) -Pass 2 star (30-44%) -Good 3 star (45-54%) -Very Good 4 star (55-69%) -Excellent 5 star (70-84%) -Outstanding 6 star (85%+) -Pros

-Cons

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-Holistic, scalable, and flexible approach -Backed by decades of research by founding organization -3rd party assessors who assists you along the way -Recommending of proprietary products over local ones -Bureaucracy could potentially over complicate and slow things down -Lack of post-occupancy data

BREEAM CERTIFICATION PROCESS

STAGE 1

-Choose which BREAMM assessment to pursue.

-Communities, New Construction, In-Use, Refurbishment

STAGE 2

-Contact a BREEAM certified Assessor -You can find one on GreenBookLive

STAGE 3

-Carry out a pre-assessment with your assessor, to help you understand what to achieve

STAGE 4

-Register for an assessment -Assessor will register for you and will get to work on your final score -Get certified

STAGE 5

-BREEAM Assessor submits all evidence

STAGE 6

-Project is listed on GreenBookLive with final score

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WELL

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WELL OVERVIEW -History -Founded in 2013 by design agency Delos -First building rating system solely dedicated to occupant health and well being -We spend 90% of our time indoors and most other certifications are broad -Standards are based on medical research regarding how the built-environment impacts our health and well being -Rating System broken down into 7 categories -Air -Water -Nourishment -Light -Fitness -Comfort -Mind -Four Levels -Bronze (40pts) -Silver (50pts) -Gold (60pts) -Platinum (80pts)

-Pros

-Cons

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-Solely focused on one aspect of sustainability -Backed by decades of research -Gives standards for performance-based design and descriptive design -Same 3rd party assessor as LEED -Complex certification process -Relatively new and lacks standards for multiple building types -Pilot Programs -Retail, multi-family, education, restaurant

WELL CERTIFICATION PROCESS

REGISTER

-Go to WELL Online and enter project into Database -Choose which certification to pursue and which credits to pursue

APPLY

-Gather all relevant prerequisite information and documentation -Pay WELL certification fee

REVIEW

-GBCI reviews submitted documentation and returns a preliminary report that can be accepted or disputed

CERTIFICATION

-GBCI renders final verdict on what WELL certification your project is.

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LIVING BUILDING CHALLENGE

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LIVING BUILDING CHALLENGE OVERVIEW -History -Founded in 2006 by a branch of the USGBC -Meant to differ from standards like LEED or BREEAM -Heralded as the most rigorous green building standard in the world -Expanded to Living Product and Living Community Challenge -Also has added a separate Zero Energy and Zero Carbon certification -Rating System broken down into 7 “petals” each with their own “imperatives” -Place -Ecology of Place -Urban Agriculture -Habitat Exchange -Human Scaled Living -Water -Responsible Water Use -Net Positive Water -Energy -Energy + Carbon Reduction -Net Positive Energy -Health and Happiness -Healthy Interior Environment -Healthy Interior Performance -Access to Nature -Materials -Responsible materials -Red List -Responsible Sourcing -Living Economy Sourcing -Net Positive Waste -Equity -Universal Access -Inclusion -Mind -Beauty + Biophilia -Education + Inspiration -Pros

-Cons

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-High standard, cannot skip out on any aspect of the Living Building Challenge -3rd party assessors not GBCI -Scales up and down, and goes beyond buildings -Other certifications like Zero Energy and Zero Carbon -Post-Occupancy data (12 months) -Long certification process -Documentation is on design team

LIVING BUILDING CHALLENGE CERTIFICATION PROCESS

REGISTER

-Choose which certification to pursue -Register through ILFI membership -Living Building, Petal, Core Imperative, Zero Energy, Zero Carbon

DOCUMENTATION

-Gather all relevant prerequisite information and documentation during Design and Construction

AUDIT

-Certified 3rd party auditor does a preliminary audit and site visit to address minor shortfalls

CERTIFICATION

-Auditor comes back to do final audit and awards certification

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Bibliography Garofalo, Federica. “Well Building Standard, the First Architectural Benchmark Focused on Well-Being.” LifeGate, June 15, 2020. https://www.lifegate.com/well-building-standard-supports-human-health.

“Guide to LEED Certification.” Certification Guide | U.S. Green Building Council. Accessed November 30, 2021. https://www.usgbc.org/cert-guide.

Heide, Vergard. A critical evaluation of BREEAM-NOR from a sustainable perspective. NTNU, 2011. https:// www.ntnu.no/wiki/download/attachments/39650028/GetFileVeg.pdf?version=1&.

Introduction. Accessed November 30, 2021. https://www.breeam.com/communitiesmanual/content/00_ introduction/03_introduction.htm.

“Living Building Challenge Certification.” International Living Future Institute, January 4, 2021. https://living-future.org/lbc-3_1/certification/.

“LIVING BUILDING CHALLENGESM 4.0 A Visionary Path to a Regenerative Future.” Seattle: Living Building Challenge, June 2019.

Orr, Robert. “The Problems with LEED.” Lean Urbanism. The Center for Applied Transect Studies. Accessed November 30, 2021. https://leanurbanism.org/the-problems-with-leed/.

Scoring and rating BREEAM assessed buildings. Accessed November 30, 2021. https://www.breeam.com/ BREEAM2011SchemeDocument/Content/03_ScoringRating/scoring.htm.

“Well Building Standard®.” WELL Building Standard® | WELL Standard. Accessed November 30, 2021. https://standard.wellcertified.com/well.

“Why LEED.” Why LEED certification | U.S. Green Building Council. Accessed November 30, 2021. https:// www.usgbc.org/leed/why-leed.

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