327 research outputs found
Applicability and Implementation of U.S. Green Building Council Rating System (LEED) in Egypt (A Longitudinal study for Egyptian LEED Certified Buildings)
No full textAbstractAccording to the USGBC projects’ directory, there are only Six LEED Certified projects and 17 registered projects in Egypt. This implies the limited number of LEED projects in Egypt. That's why most of the empirical studies conducted about LEED Rating System were performed on other markets than the Egyptian one; Accordingly This paper is the result of a longitudinal study that was performed on Three Egyptian LEED Certified projects as a part of a master thesis research that was submitted to Cairo University in 2013 by the first author where the second and the third author were the main supervisors. The objective of this study was to investigate the implementation of the LEED Rating system credits in Egypt through a comparative analysis of Three Egyptian LEED Certified projects.The results of this study included a classification for the most achieved and targeted credits within the Egyptian market. This study may also contribute to a better understanding of the concept of implementing LEED green building rating system in Egypt and may suggest some recommendations for future studies
LEED Certification: Gold Standard or Gold Star
No full textabstract: Since its launch by the US Green Building Council (USGBC), Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification has been postured as the "gold standard" for environmentally conscious, sustainable building design, construction and operations. However, as a "living measurement", one which requires ongoing evaluation and reporting of attainment and compliance with LEED certification requirements, there is none. Once awarded, LEED certification does not have a required reporting component to effectively track continued adherence to LEED standards. In addition, there is no expiry tied to the certification; once obtained, a LEED certification rating is presumed to be a valid representation of project certification status. Therefore, LEED lacks a requirement to demonstrate environmental impact of construction materials and building systems over the entire life of the project. Consequently, LEED certification is merely a label rather than a true representation of ongoing adherence to program performance requirements over time. Without continued monitoring and reporting of building design and construction features, and in the absence of recertification requirements, LEED is, in reality, a gold star rather than a gold standard. This thesis examines the lack of required ongoing monitoring, reporting, or recertification requirements following the award by the USGBC of LEED certification; compares LEED with other international programs which do have ongoing reporting or recertification requirements; demonstrates the need and benefit of ongoing reporting or recertification requirements; and explores possible methods for implementation of mandatory reporting requirements within the program.Dissertation/ThesisM.S.Tech Technology 201
Performance Evaluation of 32 LEED Hospitals on Operation Costs
No full textAbstractGrowth in healthcare needs challenges providers to reduce operational costs and is expected to increase construction and renovation of healthcare facilities. Meanwhile, concerns regarding the environmental impacts of hospitals have made the healthcare sector one of the most prominent settings for the green building movement. Despite these environmental concerns, the number of studies that document the benefits of sustainable healthcare facilities is limited. In this study, the authors used national cost report data from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and developed a benchmarking tool for comparing the operation and maintenance costs of healthcare facilities with their peers. The authors then used longitudinal data and compared the annual operation and maintenance cost of 32 Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) hospitals to the median cost of non-LEED facilities of comparable type, ownership, and location. Analysis failed to provide any evidence that achieving more LEED credits or LEED certification in general lowers operation and maintenance costs of healthcare facilities
Impact of charrettes and their characteristics on achieved LEED certification
No full text2013 Spring.Includes bibliographical references.Charrettes are collaborative, interdisciplinary workshops. They are a commonly used process in the design phases of sustainable building projects and are often used in Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified building projects. Charrettes are implemented to increase collaboration and communication across different building professionals and stakeholders. However, it is unclear what specific outcomes of the charrette process are and what factors may contribute to the overall success of green building projects. The study seeks to answer what impact charrettes and their characteristics have on LEED certified building projects? It uses LEED points awarded as a metric. Using a focus group, characteristics of charrette processes were identified. These characteristics were presented in a qualitative survey distributed to professionals involved with 177 projects certified using LEED for New Construction (NC) v2009. Looking broadly at the charrette process and its impact on the number of LEED points achieved revealed a significant positive relationship between LEED points and the implementation of charrettes. Correlation and regression analysis were used to examine the relationship of individual charrette characteristics to LEED points achieved. A significant negative correlation (p<.05) was discovered between three separate characteristics which, in-turn, negatively impacted LEED points achieved. Results suggest the charrette process has the potential to provide significant benefits regardless of characteristics implemented, but that to fully realize this benefit, the charrette should not include factors that limit a group's ability to produce creative ideas, goals, and solutions
A Scientometric Analysis and Visualization of Global LEED Research
No full textWith the promotion of the concept of sustainable development and green buildings, green building rating systems are beginning to emerge and gradually attract more attention. Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a widely used and influential rating system worldwide, and research on it has shown an increasing trend year by year. To establish a comprehensive understanding of the LEED research field, this article visualizes and analyzes the LEED research literature by CiteSpace to obtain journal, author, institution, and country collaboration networks, reference co-citations and clusters, keyword co-occurrence networks and citation bursts. The study found the relationships among journals, authors, institutions, countries, research frontiers, research hotspots, and research processes in the field of LEED research. A framework of the knowledge system of LEED research was constructed based on these findings to present the current status and future trends and provide a reference for future research
The Effect of LEED Certification on Urban Heat Islands
No full textSustainable building performance has become one of the most critical concerns recently, in architecture and urban planning disciplines. Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification studies have proven that the LEED badge provides certain types of ownership benefits. However, it has not been shown whether or not a LEED certified building also enhances environmental benefits to its surroundings. For example, if LEED certification promises a standard for an environment-friendly building, then a group of these certificates should imply greater environmental benefits to the society. This is the main question of this study. The author answers this question through examining possible relationships of LEED certificates and their influence on outdoor temperature of surroundings. Overall results suggest that both LEED certification levels and the mass effect of LEED buildings do not have significant influence on regional climates in the Texas and Florida States. It should be noted that, however, the State of California resulted in an interesting output as it showed higher negative coefficients for the LEED concentration areas, and all the coefficients showed negative correlation with the regional climate. The modeling results by California State indicate that LEED certified buildings could lower the outdoor temperature by 0.3 Celsius, with Gold and Platinum certifications showing even better reduction capability
The Importance of Integrating LCA into the LEED Rating System
No full textAbstractLEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is a rating system that rates green buildings; LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) is a tool to evaluate the environmental impacts of building materials. The aim of this paper is to demonstrate the importance of integrating LCA into LEED to enhance its rating system. The LEED Gold building presented in this research is the Centennial College Progress Campus located in Toronto, Canada. Using ATHENA® Impact Estimator version 4.5 to conduct the LCA, this study analyses how different building envelope solutions and building materials affect the results of the environmental assessment of a whole building over the building's life cycle of 60, 80 and 120 years. Environmental impact assessment of LEED buildings is discussed, further research topics are suggested; for example how to develop specific LCA software tools and integrate them into LCA analysis for green building rating system
Current industry perceptions of the role of the contractor in the LEED certification process
No full text2011 Spring.Includes bibliographical references.LEED certification has been rapidly adopted on the Front Range of Colorado as the primary green building rating system. LEED has required project teams and contractors to adopt new tasks and management activities in order to meet LEED requirements and owner expectations. It is understood that contractors are critical to successful implementation of the LEED process and ultimately meeting the LEED goals of a project. This research was designed to help determine what opportunities exist for contractors to better add value to the LEED process on future projects, and to identify differences among architects and designers, green building consultants and contractors in their perception of the contractor's role in LEED. A survey was distributed to building professionals with LEED experience on the Front Range of Colorado asking for feedback about the contractor's role, opportunities to add value and factors that may limit contractor success in LEED. Findings confirm that contractors have significant impact on the LEED process, and that there is opportunity for contractors to further add value to the process in the future. Also, that difference in perception of the contractor's role and contractor opportunity to add value does vary among the three main research groups: architects and designers, green building consultants and contractors. Key opportunities for contractors to better add value to the LEED process include: engagement in an integrated design process, taking on leadership in the LEED process, better LEED related cost estimating and management, better or expanded use of technology, better tracking tools and LEED management processes, and continuing education and LEED credentialing. Contractors and green building consultants often have closely aligned perception of the contractor's role in LEED, however each group showed variation in their perception of the contractor's role that was specific to their area of professional practice
Planning for Environmental Sustainability : Learning from LEED and the USGBC
No full textThe author analyzes the relationship between the US Green Building Council and higher education by examining campus use of LEED credits over time, and also suggests that the USGBC provides a model for large-scale learning organizations
Obtaining LEED Credits Directed towards Healthy Inpatient Block
No full textabstract: ABSTRACT Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a non-governmental organization of U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) which promotes a sustainable built environment with its rating systems. One of the building segments which it considers is healthcare, where it is a challenge to identify the most cost-effective variety of complex equipments, to meet the demand for 24/7 health care and diagnosis, and implement various energy efficient strategies in inpatient hospitals. According to their “End Use Monitoring” study, Hospital Energy Alliances (HEA), an initiative of U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), reducing plug load reduces hospital energy consumption. The aim of this thesis is to investigate the extent to which realistic changes to the building envelope, together with HVAC and operation schedules would allow LEED credits to be earned in the DOE–hospital prototype. The scope of this research is to specifically investigate the inpatient block where patient stays longer. However, to obtain LEED credits the percentage cost saving should be considered along with the end use monitoring. Several steps have been taken to identify the optimal set of the end use results by adopting the Whole Building Energy Simulation option of the LEED Energy & Atmosphere (EA) pre– requisite 2: Minimum Energy Performance. The initial step includes evaluating certain LEED criteria consistent with ASHRAE Standard 90.1–2007 with the constraint that hospital prototype is to be upgraded from Standard 2004 to Standard 2007. The simulation method stipulates energy conservation measures as well as utility costing to enhance the LEED credits. A series of simulations with different values of Light Power Density, Sizing Factors, Chiller Coefficient of Performance, Boiler Efficiency, Plug Loads and utility cost were run for a variety of end uses with the extreme climatic condition of Phoenix. These assessments are then compared and used as a framework for a proposed interactive design decision approach. As a result, a total of 19.4% energy savings and 20% utility cost savings were achieved by the building simulation tool, which refer to 5 and 7 LEED credits respectively. The study develops a proper framework for future evaluations intended to achieve more LEED points.Dissertation/ThesisM.S. Built Environment 201
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