LEED certification need not cost more to implement

To the Editor:
I am pleased to say that I am Rhode Island’s first LEED-accredited architect, and am an associate at the Robinson Green Beretta Corp. I am also a member of the board of directors on the U.S. Green Building Council – Rhode Island Chapter.
After reading the article (“LEED not the only worthy green building standard,” July 13) in a recent edition of Providence Business News, I just wanted to offer some comments based on my own experience using LEED on the commercial side.
While I agree that LEED is not the only viable green building standard, and have also heard that the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) green homes standard is a great standard (although I do not do residential architecture), I was concerned that the article painted a picture that using LEED could cost “five or six” times greater, or as John Jacobson indicated, “$50,000 more in development.”
I have seen the great transformation that LEED has brought to the marketplace. One of the most recent analyses of the cost of LEED is a 2007 cost study by Davis Langdon. The third party study compared 83 buildings certified under LEED-New Construction to 138 non-LEED buildings and found no significant difference in average costs.
Furthermore, the study revealed that the contracting community has embraced sustainable design as standard operating procedure.
My first LEED-certified project was a new supermarket for Shaw’s Supermarkets in Worcester. It became the first LEED-certified supermarket in the Northeast in 2005. Shaw’s wanted to show that it could build to LEED standards without doing anything major or spending significantly more than traditional construction.
It was determined that the cost of LEED, as quantified by the contractor, was slightly more than $40,000 (including limited commissioning services). This cost included $4,500 for C02 sensors and $4,000 for low-flow toilets and waterless urinals. With a construction cost of approximately $8 million, this equates to a premium of 0.5 percent.
By achieving energy savings of 25-plus percent beyond code, many high-performance features can pay for themselves in a very short period of time. Even the cost of energy modeling and building commissioning can be typically paid for in the first year of energy savings.
By example, I was the architect for Rhode Island College’s new LEED-certified residence hall, which became the first new construction project to become LEED certified in the state. Building commissioning services – which ensure that the building will be constructed and operate as designed – for the $28 million project cost the college a total of $82,000.
RGB’s energy modeling services, as well as LEED tracking and submittal services, cost an additional $35,000 over traditional architectural services. Energy modeling predicted an annual savings of more than $114,000 (based on 2005 energy rates), which equates to 27 percent better performance than code. That means that both of those services were paid off within the first year of operations.
The LEED point system is very flexible and can be tailored to each specific project to make the most economic sense. LEED is currently administered through the U.S. Green Building Council (a nonprofit corporation), and achievement is validated through their third party review.
Steven L. Hughes
Associate, The Robinson Green Beretta Corp.