Green building has been ramped up mostly as a voluntary choice -- market and politically motivated.
But the USGBC LEED program hasn't achieved significant energy efficiency impacts, and as climate change dangers continue to mount, more impactful change is likely in the near future.
More
assertive public policies regarding energy efficient buildings will warrant careful consideration. Commercial Building Energy Use Reporting
The mildest of such energy use policies, which
will be implemented in the coming years in California and Washington, D.C.,
requires energy
use reporting for commercial buildings.
Energy Star has laid the groundwork for such a
requirement, by rating the energy performance of about 16% of all commercial building floor
space and 43% of office space in the U.S. to date on a voluntary basis.
Mandatory energy use
reporting would make the
value contrast between "green" and "non-green" buildings sharper to all real
estate buyers and lessees.
If a
cap and trade program to address climate change is enacted in the
U.S., monitoring and disclosure of building energy performance may well be mandated in order
for utilities and other participants to manage their carbon emissions under the program.
Building codes that incorporate LEED certification (or the equivalent) represent a much bigger
step for states and localities than energy use reporting requirements. Already in place in a few
locations, such mandates ask building inspectors to evaluate energy simulations that they may be
poorly prepared to understand.
By making LEED the baseline for buildings, rather
than speaking to "green" aspirations, LEED mandates seem likely to amplify the pressure on
USGBC for "dumbing down" of the system.
ASHRAE standard 189.1PASHRAE standard 189.1P for "green buildings," in which USGBC is a partner, may help deflect
this pressure.
This proposed standard, currently under development, will cover the same broad
categories as LEED (materials, site, energy and atmosphere, etc.). Rather than relying primarily
on simulation to assess energy performance, it will be written in the
"prescriptive" language with
which building inspectors are used to working, so that it can be adopted with relative ease by
interested jurisdictions.
The ASHRAE standard 189.1P energy efficiency targets are 25-30% more stringent than ASHRAE 90.1-2007 (and would earn roughly 8-10 points out of LEED 2009's 110 point
maximum).
Green building advocates expect
ASHRAE 189.1P as a whole to be more stringent than LEED Silver when completed.
This strategy would make ASHRAE, rather than USGBC, into the legislative authority for
jurisdictions that would seek to "out-green" the rest of the country.
ASHRAE already serves in
this capacity as the Congressionally-authorized developer of commercial building energy codes
for states.
ASHRAE 189.1P would provide a testbed for more stringent versions of ASHRAE
90.1 and should make it more easy to implement new versions of the latter.
ASHRAE 189.1P broadens the scope of ASHRAE's activity beyond
energy efficiency and indoor air quality to the other LEED categories, which has created
"pushback" from some affected parties. In October 2008, the 189.1P project committee was
temporarily disbanded, due to conflicts over its composition and, reportedly, opposition from
"building owners, the gas and electric industries, the steel construction industry, and wood
interests."
USGBC, ASHRAE, and Energy StarAlthough more states and localities may choose to use the institutional infrastructure being
created and continually ratcheted up by
USGBC, ASHRAE, and Energy Star, many will not.
Only the federal government has the authority to change this hard fact.
DOE could begin focusing authority by
more assertively implementing the provisions of the 1992 Energy Policy Act under which the
Department certifies each new version of ASHRAE 90.1 and requires states to adopt it.
The research paper cited in this article (Don't Worry About the Government? The LEED-NC "Green Building" Rating System and Energy Efficiency in U.S. Commercial Buildings, by David M. Hart ) describes the history, development, and current operation of USGBC and LEED, particularly with regard to energy efficiency in commercial buildings, the subsector in which LEED has had its greatest impact.