Has USGBC Shifted its Focus?

That’s the question posed by Greg Metz and Ted Lott of Lott3Metz Architects  in the Grand Rapids Business Journal (Click here to read the article).

Messrs. Metz and Lott were early, and proud, adopters of LEED certified designation for professionals who have wearied of the additional fees and re-certification required of their practices, which they see as little more than a new USGBC profit center.

Moreover, a sense of fairness is at play.  When they were accredited, the implied bargain was that the credential would last for life.  The revised rules, and their accompanying fees, unfairly change the terms of the relationship.  While Lott3Metz remains firmly committed to sustainable design, they are fed up with USGBC’s demand for ongoing tribute.

So instead of bellying up to the cashier window, Greg Metz would like to see, “…what is the next thing?  What’s the next LEED that everybody is going to want to have?”  Well Greg, the next thing is here.  It’s credible, it’s affordable, and it’s SERF.

Motor City Miracle

It is all too easy to hear of the financial meltdown of the City of Detroit government and assume that all is lost.

Hardly.  People and organizations who love their city are doing exciting things in Motown.  It was my pleasure to present a SERF Certification plaque to Kathy Makino of Shelborne Development on her company’s magnificent adaptive reuse of the historic Chalmers building as Chalmers Square.

In addition to 47 new, energy-efficient housing units, this mixed-use gem features 17,000 square feet of street retail to further bolster the revival of the resurgent East Jefferson corridor (www.jeffersoneast.org).  This corridor, originally known as the Jefferson-Chalmars Historic Business District, was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2004.

We believe in architect Carl Elefante’s maxim that the greenest building is the one that is already built.

Kathy Makino and Detroit’s Jefferson East community demonstrate that the greenest neighborhood is the one that is already built.

SERF Aims to Make Green Building Certification Simple

05/10/13- Article by Solar Works Atlanta: SERF Aims to Make Green Building Certification Simple

What Wood LEED Do?

It seems lawmakers in North Carolina are seeing red over “green” LEED standards for wood.

Since most timber grown in the state does not meet Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) standards that LEED requires, builders there are perversely incented to use imported wood in order to obtain LEED certification.

The North Carolina House of Representatives is responding with HB 688 which would prohibit public projects from pursuing a green building certification which, “disadvantages materials of products manufactured or produced in North Carolina.”

SERF believes in local sourcing and holistic, life-cycle analysis (imported wood?)  So, to our friends in the Tar Heel state, we encourage you to support your local economy and the environment by growing your own.

Is LEED a Monopoly?

Gosh, we sure hope not.  We’ve been a little quiet lately as we launched our completely redesigned and enhanced web site this week (www.SERFgreen.org), but the notion of a LEED monopoly is unsettling.   After all, SERF, Green Globes ™ and others have invested significant resources to provide cost-effective, accessible alternative green building certifications.

Still, others make the claim of a LEED monopoly quite forcibly—like the Chattanooga Times Free Press recent editorial.

The Times Free Press’ position has some merit when considering government buildings.  But as to the private sector—the ones who are spending their own money–we find businesses are very open to a market-friendly alternative to LEED.  In fact, we’ve had success with private buildings that are already LEED certified.

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Catch the Wave on free webinar

SERF and the Centre for Sustainability & Excellence (CSE) are co-hosting a free webinar 12:30-1:30 CST on Thursday, January 24.

CSE , a global leader in sustainability consulting and training, is partnering with SERF to train SERF Professionals (SPs).  SPs have the exclusive ability to act as third-party verifiers for SERF certification applications.

SERF president Joe Maguire and CSE president Nikos Avlonas will be on hand to discuss SERF as a streamlined, affordable alternative to LEED certification and the SP designation as opportunity to expand your professional practice.  Click here to register.

VOCs paint an ugly picture

Who doesn’t love the smell of fresh paint?  But, as so often seems the case, the good things in life are bad for us.

Green buildings transcend their structure and actually produce a positive effect on the health and comfort of their occupants. A key factor which determines this is the type of architectural coatings (paints, sealers etc.) and how many volatile organic compounds (VOCs) they contain.   Alas, these toxins are responsible for that wonderful fresh paint aroma.

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Who really pays for LEED certification?

Obtaining LEED certification costs a lot of time and money.  The resources required are not limitless and are generally diverted from other uses, though that seems impolite to discuss when pursuing sustainability.

But LEED certification does not, of course, add to a property’s sustainability.  Rather it confirms, or certifies, that objective sustainable criteria have been met.   If anything, the high costs of LEED certification divert funds that may be otherwise be spent on sustainable materials or systems.

In the end, the high cost of LEED ultimately comes from somewhere….or someone. 

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The Greenest Building is the one that is already built

This elegant phrase by architect Carl Elefante is bolstered by an important new study, The Greenest Building:  Quantifying the Environmental Value of Building Reuse.

National Real Estate Investor opines that the study, commissioned by the National Trust for Historic Preservation’s Preservation Green Lab, empirically shows, “It is unequivocally greener to retrofit an old building than construct a new building, no matter how many high-tech bells and whistles are in the new construction.”

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Green parking, chicken houses and bankers

Beginning in 2011, parking structures were deemed unworthy of attaining LEED certification owing to the fact that they are, after all, chock full of those pesky cars.

So great the sin of enabling the proliferation of hydro-carbon fueled vehicles that no amount of energy efficient lighting, designated stalls for alternate fuel vehiclesreduction of heat island effect and countless other ways to make a parking structure more sustainable has lowered the upturned nose of the USGBC.

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