If you’re managing a LEED project, one of your first challenges will be getting your team to think a little differently about how the LEED project team works together and how the LEED building project is managed. On a typical building project your design team may get together in a room with the client, talk about the client’s goals, objectives and project needs — and then once the project is kicked off, everyone seems to scatter and go off and do their own thing. The mechanical engineer focusses on the HVAC needs. Your landscape architect is busy doing land surveys and designing the landscape. Your electrical engineer gets started identifying the electrical and indoor and outdoor lighting needs for the project. Team members only seem to get involved with one another on an as-needed basis.

With a LEED project, you need to take a totally different approach. LEED projects require that you create an integrated design from day-one of the project. In fact, the ultimate success of your LEED project truly depends on managing your LEED project with an integrated design approach.

So what exactly is “integrated design”? An integrated design approach means that your team collaborates together right from the beginning of the project. In typical building projects, the design process does not try to identify synergies or optimization among the various disciplines and team members. Decisions are often made by fewer people and in isolation. One of the main benefits of an integrated design approach is that it allows your team to develop synergies that will not only help you create a better building for your client, but it will also increase the likelihood of you achieving your LEED credits and certification. Synergy like this allows the various disciplines to optimize the building design and decisions can be made together to ensure that they work collectively to achieve the various credits you are trying to achieve.

Life cycle costing is also emphasized in an integrated design. Life-cycle costing is a way to assess the total building cost over time, taking into consideration initial costs, operating costs and maintenance costs. You’ll also want to take in the social and environmental benefits of the LEED project when evaluating life-cycle costing.

In a traditional project, systems are considered in isolation. A successful LEED projects require your team to think of the WHOLE building and all of the systems together as they’re working on the LEED project.

Even though an integrated-design approach requires more efforts at the front-end – a lot of time and energy will be invested upfront early in the design phase where you have maximum flexibility to impact the design and coordinate everything with your LEED goal objectives. Integrated design is one of the keys to completely a successful LEED project.

Succeed at LEED

I’m working on a video tutorial on how to use LEEDOnline.com. I’m looking for Architectures, Mechanical Engineers, Landscape Designers, Electrical Engineers, Contractors, etc. to fill in the sample templates on my sample LEED project — so I can use those templates as examples in my video tutorial.

If you’d like to get practice filling out real LEED project templates and getting first-hand experience working in the LEEDOnline.com environment, please e-mail me at sherry @ succeedatleed.com and tell me a little bit about your background (electrical engineer, construction, mechanical engineer, etc.)

I don’t want you to add any proprietary information about projects you’re actually working on (so don’t include any actual client info) — I’m just looking for sample filled-out templates to show in my video tutorial.

Thanks in advance for your help!

Succeed at LEED

Makes the case for coupling hydrogen production with wind farms in order to deliver more dispatchable power; lessen the need for transmission capacity; as well as other important bottom line benefits.

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This is the follow up to our previous post The Ultimate Green Twitter Hashtag List: Build Your Online Green Twitter Following – 150+Green Hashtags. This post introduces you to daily Twitter memes and explain how they work to build you followers, provide you with an overview of how they were started and strategies for getting the most from green…



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Examines the case for government leadership in promoting the development of distributed grid connected energy storage, arguing that government leadership is necessary in order to kick start this very important component of the robust electric energy infrastructure that is in our nations best interest. The author also argues that doing so will…



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Discusses the recent news that renewable energy (including hydro as well) now supplies more electricity to the US grid than does nuclear power. The post then goes on to list some large solar and wind projects in advanced stages of the development pipeline as a reason for being optimistic that the solar and wind side of the renewables is rapidly…



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The recyclable plastic bags you get at the green grocer are not biodegradable. But product life-cycle assessments, which are about to become more prominent in the marketplace, fail to consider whether those bags will break down in landfills or just end up as litter.

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Lays out the case for how using virtualization can save very significant amounts of energy, especially in large data centers. Breaks down resource requirements in terms of RAM, storage and ultimately cooling for a stand alone server configuration and a comparable virtualization configuration and builds a case for why and how virtualization can…



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Argues that energy and environmental issues, and the candidate stances on them, will play a large role in the 2012 presidential election. While president Obama’s position may be well known, for most Americans the platforms of the Republican candidates are just now coming into focus.

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The Green Economy Post: Green Careers, Green Business, Sustainability

It’s true. With more than 24,500 certified projects, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (better known as LEED) is by far the industry standard for green building projects. But there’s another green building certification initiative that’s picking up steam – one that targets a different segment of the market, but at the same time complements LEED certification efforts.

Launched in 1998, the Green Advantage Certification was created with support from the US EPA, SAIC, The Nature Conservancy and the University of Florida. Green Advantage is recognized throughout the building industry as the “green builder credential for construction workers.” The Green Advantage Certification is designed for the construction market – architects and engineers, contractors, subcontractors and trades people. But it’s not just for construction workers, other building and environmental professionals can also benefit from becoming Green Advantage Certified – including owners, developers, facility managers, code officials and realtors.

The green construction professionals who pass the Green Advantage Certification demonstrate that they have a practical knowledge of current green building principles, materials and techniques and the foundation for green building. Similar to LEED, there are several different certifications that focus on specific areas: Commercial, Residential and Commercial/Residential.

When a person becomes Green Advantage (GA) certified, they demonstrate general knowledge, comprehension and the ability to analyze green construction concepts, materials, and practices. Emphasis is given to construction field practices as they relate to the role construction personnel have in improving the environmental and health attributes of the building environment. The Green Advantage certification is designed to help improve green building project collaboration and allows construction professionals to differentiate themselves from others in the industry.
The green building field is always changing and evolving. GAs need to recertify every three years in order to maintain Green Advantage Certification. (Recertification is a pain, but if you’re in the green construction industry it’s worth the hassle.)

If you’re working on a LEED project, having the Green Advantage Certification is a bonus. A HUGE benefit of becoming Green Advantage Certified is that having that certification can help your LEED project. The Green Advantage (GA) personnel certification program has been approved by the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) as a LEED Innovation Credit for projects seeking LEED Certification.

This USGBC approval allows construction projects registered under LEED 2009 BD&C that meet the Green Advantage Field Personnel Standard to include this Innovation Credit in the LEED project’s submitted point total. The Green Advantage Field Personnel Standard requires at least 30% of select construction personnel be Green Advantage Certified prior to and throughout a LEED project’s construction.

Available nationwide, Green Advantage Exams are administered ‘open book’ and may be taken either at testing centers or on location in group settings. Exams are available for both residential and commercial practitioners.

Resources
Visit http://www.greenadvantage.org/for more information on what it takes to become Green Advantage Certified.

If you’re interested in trying to become Green Advantage Certified, check out this Green Advantage Commercial/ Residential Exam Preparation study course.

Succeed at LEED