Sustainable Building Design
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Reducing waste and inefficiency in buildings might sound like a huge, abstract goal for property owners, designers and architects. What they may not know, however, is that there is a clear and actionable set of sustainability standards they can use. These principles can not only help improve a building’s ecological footprint, but also save significant money over its lifetime. These standards were developed as part of the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program — and if you’re one of the few professionals who haven’t delved into what they could mean for your projects, now is the time. Boiled down to its most basic premise, LEED is a system in which buildings are awarded points based on their performance in a number of key metrics. These include water efficiency, energy efficiency, use of resources, and indoor air quality (among others). Adopting sustainable practices, designs
