NASA adopted 00-POL-004, GSA’s Building Green for the Future, for its practice of incorporating LEED into NASA’s Facilities. NASA adopted the concept of sustainable design as a best practice in the delivery of design and construction services for facilities agency-wide. In 2002, NASA issued a policy directing its facilities to incorporate sustainable design principles into facility projects to the maximum extent possible. In 2003, NASA took a step further in issuing a policy that directed all new construction and major renovations starting in FY 2006 to obtain silver certification under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), Green Building Rating System.
Two existing best practices of design for maintainability and total building commissioning existed in the NASA facility program. NASA saw that the principles of sustainable design, design for maintainability and total building commissioning all shared common goals in delivering facilities. Those goals included:
- Provide a safe and healthy facility
- Use resources efficiently and effectively
- Reduce operating costs
- Improve operations and maintenance
- Meet the users needs in the facility
In order to communicate the best practices to its personnel, NASA incorporated the three best practices into one training course, which is titled “Sustainable Design for Facilities.” The course provides a global overview of why sustainability is important in today’s environment. It also introduces the principles of sustainability; provides an overview of the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED Green Building Rating System for New Construction and Major Renovations, and provides project examples of implementing sustainable designs. The course ties the principles of design for maintainability and total building commissioning directly to the principles of sustainable design.
The Sustainable Design for Facilities course is designed to assist NASA personnel in understanding and meeting the new requirement for LEED silver certification on new construction projects. Program managers and facility personnel from all NASA facilities will have the opportunity to take the course.
NASA currently has three facility construction projects underway that are seeking LEED certification. Two additional projects starting construction during FY 2006 have goals of achieving LEED silver certification. The policy for achieving LEED silver certification in NASA’s Construction of Facilities program sets the bar for optimizing site potential, minimizing non-renewable energy consumption, using environmentally preferable building products, protecting and conserving water, enhancing indoor environmental quality and optimizing operational and maintenance practices.
For more information, contact Mr. Calvin F. Williams at (202) 358-2322 or via e-mail at calvin.williams@nasa.gov.
