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| LEED-certified new construction |
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| Rehab in process, exact certification not yet determined. |
Regarding that title, I'll admit I'm one of the few people who would deem something that wonkish to be worthy of an exclamation point. Still, this is a potential game-changer for how "green" housing development is viewed. Among other preservationist friends, we've often lamented that many green standards for construction fail to take into account the environmental costs of a demolition putting tons of waste into a landfill, or the energy costs of creating new (or recycled/reused) raw material, transporting it, and building anew. This isn't to devalue groundbreaking new kinds of construction such as what was used in the first LEED-certified home built in the Hawthorne EcoVillage (top photo). Instead, we wondered how green construction might be evaluated when taking such things into consideration.
Thanks to some proposed changes by the US Green Building Council, it looks like things are heading in that direction. These changes are only proposed at this time, and there is an initial public comment period through January 14, 2011. Click here to submit comments you might have. The most important change has to do with giving credit for the preservation of historic buildings. Tell the USGBC that you absolutely LOVE this credit. And it gets better! According to the Preservation Nation website, there is a credit "directly encouraging users to save historic windows and they are specifically looking for feedback that confirms this is a good thing." (emphasis mine, but I feel rather strongly about this issue)
The new LEED standards do need some tweaking though. For instance...
