LEED –GA Preparatory Training

Green Building Basics

Sustainability
Sustainability can be defined as the ability
to meet the needs of the present without
compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs.
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Green Building Basics

Defining Green Building
Green buildings are specifically designed structures that
reduce the overall negative impact of the built environment
on human health and the natural environment by:

• Efficiently using energy, water, land, and materials

• Protecting occupant health and improving employee
productivity
• Reducing waste and pollution from each green building
• Continuously looking for ways to improve performance
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Green Building Basics

The Conventional Building Process

The conventional building process follows

these steps, or steps that were are similar:

• Design
• Construction plans
• Bidding process
• Construction
• Commissioning and turnover
• Occupancy
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Green Building Basics

In the conventional building process, specialists usually worked
in isolation, focusing on their separate area of project expertise
and interacting and working together ONLY when absolutely
needed.
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Green Building Basics

Whole building design

• Was developed to achieve the benefits of

green building
• Views all the interdependent building
systems together
• Uses an Integrated project team
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Green Building Basics

The Integrative Process

An integrative process is an approach that integrates

people, systems, business structures and practices
into a process that collaboratively harnesses the
talents and insights of all participants to optimize
project results, increase value to the owner, reduce
waste, and maximize efficiency through all phases of
design, fabrication, construction, and ongoing
operations.
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Green Building Basics

The integrative process requires collaboration among key
stakeholders and design professionals from conception to
completion. A stakeholder may be the building owner, a major
tenant, or an end user customer, like a college student who
uses a building for classes.
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Green Building Basics

The project phases of an integrative process are
different than the conventional process:

• Pre-Design
• Design
• Construction plans
• Bidding process
• Construction
• Commission the building
• Occupancy and Re-commissioning
• Building end of life reuse or demolition/recycle
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Green Building Basics

Pre-design

Project Vision

Define green building goals

Set Priorities
Select the project
Team
Research Green Technologies
and Strategies
Define Green Building Budget
Items
Review applicable Laws and
Standards
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Green Building Basics

Zoning and Local Codes

The project must meet local codes, zoning, and ordinances. For
example, a site that is zoned residential may only allow a certain
number of homes per acre of land. A site zoned for office space
may only allow for a building to be a certain number of stories in
height. Local codes, zoning, and ordinances take precedent over
LEED requirements.
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Green Building Basics

ICC
Many jurisdictions have adopted codes published by the International
code council. ICC has many codes, including building, plumbing,
mechanical and fire codes
IgCC
The ICC introduced the International Green Construction Code (IgCC). The
IgCC provides model code language to establish baseline regulations for
new and existing buildings related to energy conservation, water
efficiency, building owner responsibilities, site impacts, building waste,
and materials and other considerations.
ADA
Projects in the United States must also comply with the accessibility
guidelines of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).
OTHER LAWS
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Green Building Basics

Design

Develop project budget that

covers green building measures

Test and select Green

Technologies and Strategies

Check costs

Finalize design
decisions
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Green Building Basics

Building Costs
Soft Costs are costs not directly related to building, construction etc. These can
be architectural, legal, financing , engineering fees and other costs incurred before
ad after construction.
These costs make construction possible but are not directly related to building the
project.

• Hard Costs deal with fixed assets. They are directly related to improving real
property.
• Life Cycle Costs (LCC ) is the sum of all recurring and non-recurring costs over
the full life span or a specific period of a good, service, structure or system.

• Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) is the investigation and valuation of the

environmental impacts of a given product or service caused or necessitated by its
existence.

LCA addresses the environmental impacts while LCC addresses the economic
impacts.
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Green Building Basics

Integrated Project Delivery (IPD)

A Project delivery approach that integrates people,

systems, business structures and practices into a
process that collaboratively harnesses the talents
and insights of all participants to optimize project
results, increase value to the owner, reduce waste
and maximize efficiency through all phases of
design, fabrication and construction.
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Green Building Basics

Ongoing Operations and Maintenance

2.Plan

3.
1.
Measu
Audit
re

4.
Adjust
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Green Building Basics

The Triple Bottom Line

True sustainability has three key aspects:
• 1. Economics
• 2. Environment
• 3. Social responsibility
• These aspects make up the triple bottom line.
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Green Building Basics

Closed system Open system