When projects use LEED to certify the design, construction and operations of a building project as green, they are also entering into a partnership with the U.S. Green Building Council. It’s a partnership that is formed early and carried through the ongoing operations and maintenance of a green building project. LEED is a system to help project teams design, construct and operate a building using strategies designed to create buildings that save energy, reduce resource consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, contributing to a healthier environment for those who live and work in the buildings. They also require an ongoing commitment by the building owner, facilities operators and building occupants to deliver that performance.
This past year, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) launched a first-of-its-kind initiative campaign, coined the Building Performance Initiative, to put in place a comprehensive data collection effort from all commercial buildings that have achieved LEED certification; implement an appropriate analysis methodology of that data; and provide a feedback loop to building owners and operators providing information with which to address any gaps that may have surfaced due to predicted versus actual building performance. The initiative dovetails with an announcement made in 2009 requiring LEED projects to submit operational performance data on a recurring basis as a precondition to certification. Project teams will be required to collect and submit ongoing performance data, either through their own measurement or by allowing USGBC access to utility bills and other information.
The long-term goal of the Building Performance Initiative is to foster a more actively engaged owner or facility manager of a LEED certified building, one who will work to measure, analyze and improve the building’s performance. The LEED certified buildings that participate in the initiative — initially between 300 and 500 pilot participants dating back to the very first version of LEED — will receive detailed information on how they are performing, what’s working, and where there is room for improvement. This will allow those buildings’ owners, facilities managers and occupants to make crucial changes to their own behavior and may lead to upgrades, repairs and other efforts to fill the performance/prediction gap.
The announcement of the Building Performance Initiative kicked off with a series of regional building summits in September and October 2009 in five cities across the country, starting a dialogue with the community at a local level. The summits, held in Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York and Washington, D.C., convened 75 to 100 representatives from local, state and federal governments, USGBC chapters, LEED project teams, developers, architects and engineers, among others. Attendees exchanged views on how to ensure that all green buildings perform the way they are intended and that our entire building stock is upgraded for measurably better energy, water, human health and natural resources outcomes.
USGBC reported on these summits at the first annual Building Performance Initiative Summit at the Greenbuild International Conference & Expo in Phoenix, Ariz., held Nov. 11-13, 2009. To view archived video from the session, visit http://www.greenbuildexpo.org/Speakers/archived-videos/2009-videos/building-performance-initiative-summit.aspx.
The initiative will be rigorous and will require a dedicated, committed partnership among USGBC, building owners, facilities managers and occupants. Another outcome of this campaign will be its ability to drive the ongoing evolution of LEED, USGBC’s strategic planning, future breakthroughs in green building science and technology, improvements in public policy and private-sector initiatives, and an overall better understanding of how we can continue to work toward our goal of green buildings for all within a generation.
But most importantly, this initiative begins a national discussion of leaders that can have a significant impact on how buildings impact our world by working to find more innovative ways to increase the partnership between designer, owner, manager and occupant. Ultimately, building performance is synonymous with human performance.
