Monday, February 07, 2005
LEED 2004 Roundup
This article summarizes the advances that that the LEED building system has made world-wide last year. Offshoots of this program have been started in Mexico, China, and Canada (also India, but that was not mentioned). Additionally, LEED expanded into different programs, including New Construction (NC), Existing Buildings (EB) and Commercial Interiors (CI). CI is for tenants of spec buildings. The article also states that there are over 19,000 LEED professionals, up from 9,000.The biggest advance in LEED, however, was the change in the exam. Previously, there were concerns that the test was too easy. This has been changed so that it is more challenging, but not impossibly so. It also fulfills the goal of "better testing the knowledge needed to guide a project through LEED certification." The new test also includes specific questions geared to the three different LEED programs.
I was thinking along the same lines as Qui Baoxing, vice minister of construction for the People's Republic of China:
"Human need for living space evolves through four phases: shelter, comfortable buildings, healthy buildings, and green buildings. While the first uses little or no energy, the second and third have high energy consumption. [There is a] need to design green buildings with high levels of energy efficiency and renewable energy, recycled materials, and harmony between people and nature.
UPDATE: GilFriend picked up on China's awareness of green building and added this:
According to Bill McDonough, interviewed in Sustainable Industries Journal, China needs to build 400 million [million!] housing units over the next dozen years. 'That's the largest migration ever.'