LEED-ND (Neighborhood Development) is a new type of LEED. For those unfamiliar with LEED, it stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, and it has quickly become the standard for independent green-building certification, especially in the commercial building sector. LEED is a national suite of rating systems developed by the US Green Building Council and has reached a point of market saturation where even the generally eco-conscious consumer on the street has at least heard the term. Where our average consumer's level of sophistication is lacking, however, is in the differentiation between LEED rating systems. More on that later, but to get back to LEED-ND, ND is rating system that looks at such components as relative location, density, mix of uses and site plan rather than the green details of individual buildings as most LEED systems do. By favoring projects that are close to transit, infill, and dense, LEED-ND seeks to reward those large-scale land-use decisions that allow residents and users to minimize their carbon footprints.
Without getting into too much detail, ND also includes a number of Best Management Practices (BMPs)that capture the programmatic elements of a development in addition to the built form. For example, credit is given for affordable housing, both rental and ownership, and for community gardens or even joining A CSA (Community supported agriculture) for a specified number of units. all of these add up to a robust system that rewards neighborhood developments without forcing them to spend a huge amount of extra money on ensuring that their units are as green as possible as long as they are in a good location. While I personally support green building as much as possible, it has also been my experience that the VE (Value Engineering) phase of a project often has to pick and choose, excluding the wool carpet and solar panels. With LEED-ND, the bar per building is set much lower and realistic for say, affordable housing developers. Not only that, but the cost of certification is on par with the cost of certification for one commercial building, allowing the entire development to be certified as a LEED community.
There are a few disadvantages as well for ND. First, it is currently in its pilot phase and will not be released officially for new projects until sometime probably later in 2009. While this can be an issue for project completing this year or mid 2009, this can also be mitigated in a couple of ways. LEED-ND can be applied retroactively to many developments, especially those that follow good site planning principles and are located in urban areas. There are a few firms out there who can look at a project, run an inexpensive audit and tell whether your project would qualify under the current rating system and how it is likely to rate under the post-pilot version. That also applies for projects under development; an audit now could provide the couple of suggestions your project needs to not only rate well under LEED-ND, but to be more sustainable and therefore more profitable long-term. Another disadvantage of LEED-ND is that if your project is a new development in the suburbs it is hard to qualify even if everything else is very green. While this may be addressed better in the post-pilot version, for now it makes the most sens to contact a LEED professional who works with ND for a brief call to see if your project may qualify before investing any time into looking at an audit.
Despite those disadvantages, LEED-ND is still going to be the most effective product on the market for neighborhood developments. Back to the idea of consumer sophistication, as LEED permeates society even more, average consumers will come to equate it with quality products without differentiating amongst LEED ratings systems. At a recent NAHB(National Association of Home Builders) conference, the resounding message from this relatively conservative group was that once the current housing market slowdown picks back up, developers will either be building green or not selling. LEED-ND is not a panacea to make bad developments better; it does involve a good deal of effort to bring projects to more sustainable levels, but it is a practical approach involving BMPs that generally have positive impacts to triple bottom lines. As developers of large scale projects look at ways to go green that make the most sense (and dollars), LEED-ND looks to be the most promising system on the market, and well worth keeping an eye on.
LEED-ND a Boon for Large Scale Developments - To learn more about this author, visit Conor Merrigan's Website.
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Conor Merrigan
(Visit Conor's Website)
Prinicpal, C² Sustainable Development
Consulting
Active Board Member, USGBC Colorado
Chapter
Legislative Committee, Boulder Green
Building Guild
1 year, City of Boulder Long-Range
Planning Department
1 year, Boulder Housing Partners,
Development Division
2 years, EcoBuilders, Ground-up
Residential Strawbale Construction
Dual Masters' degrees, Urban Planning and
Urban Design: CU-Denver
BS, Environmental Science, Oregon State
University
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