What everyone should know about LEED Home Building Design

By:

By David Leonhardt and Corey Rozon

Green buildings efficiently use resources such as water, land, materials and energy. In order to have a building considered to be a green building, it must adequately meet all the elements of the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, .rating system.

“LEED certification will provide challenges to the industry including the need to ensure an understanding of a new generation of materials properties and developing the practices and processes needed to ensure specifications and finished products meet the standards of green building. I am especially exited to be part of this process and in making a contribution towards shaping new building technologies.” Ken Moscrip, President of Paramount Roll and Forming - one of Southern California’s most prominent metal rolling companies.

Consisting of a clear set of environmental performance criteria organized into six categories, the Canadian version of LEED, which is very similar to the USGBC version, is listed below:

Sustainable Sites

Water Efficiency

Energy and Atmosphere

Materials & Resources

Indoor Environmental Quality

Innovation in Design

“Building Green is not a new thing it is the right thing, and we always strive to use the most environmentally neutral building practices and materials. However, construction debris is always an issue, by ordering what we need and using it when we need it, it has helped us to divert as much as possible from the local landfill. There are tradeoffs which we all must take, however protection of our future and wise stewardship of our planet must be one of our utmost priorities.” Justin Linden, President of ServiceBlocks Inc - a home renovations company in Ottawa, Canada.

Benefits of Building Green

Sustainable buildings considerably lower operating and maintenance costs, and these financial benefits are realized over the life of the building:

Reduced energy costs

Reduced water usage

Reduction in resource consumption

Reduction in greenhouse gas emissions

For the construction industry, building green will continue to grow in importance, whether it is because of consumer demand, regulatory requirements, or the cost of energy.

“The LEED process guides designers and builders to make technically superior decisions in a manner that is environmentally responsible. By embracing this process, they are showing commitment to their clients, their profession and the world community at large. It allows them to provide the best design solution for both the owner and the environment.” Vipul Acharya, Durisol Building Systems Inc., a leader in ICF green building materials.

The LEED rating system, developed in the United States, has now been adopted by many other countries. For further information on LEED certification contact:

In Canada - Canada Green Building Council www.cagbc.org

In United States - U.S. Green Building Council www.usgbc.org

LEED has also become a great marketing tool to encourage sustainable environmental design and the incorporation of environmental elements into the design of buildings, from residential and commercial industry right down to industrial practices.

The best way to demonstrate that a building is “green” is by achieving LEED certification.

Home Improvement Articles: http://www.internetionalmedia.com/Category/Home Improvement/

ABOUT THE WRITERS
David Leonhardt and Corey Rozon offer ghostwriter services in Canada.
Special thanks goes to: Paramount-Roll, who bend metal tubing, Service Blocks, a Gatineau general contractor, and Durisol Build, who make LEED green building with ICF forms possible, for donating their time and allowing me to interview them for this article.

Link To This Story Simply copy the html code below into a relevant page on your site:

<a href="http://www.internetionalmedia.com/Article/What everyone should know about LEED Home Building Design/4398"><b>What everyone should know about LEED Home Building Design</b></a><br> Here's a really informative article entitled "What everyone should know about LEED Home Building Design" for your reading pleasure...

Add to del.icio.us

Add to Cosmos

Digg this

Add to Spurl

Add to Blinklist

Furl

Reddit

Fark

Yahoo