LEED Cerification Update - GOLD!

Its official. My firm just got word back from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) that we achieved a GOLD certification in the LEED for Existing Buildings rating system. That floored me since we were originally shooting for Silver and recently thought we were only going to get Certified status based on communication with the USGBC. (The rating system is Certified, Silver, Gold, then Platinum). The USGBC finally finished its evaluation of our building and business practices and accepted every one of our credits for a total of 51, just enough to squeak by with a Gold rating. I'd like to think that the extra credit is for me riding my bike to work every day, rain or shine and in the frigid cold and snow of Montana winters. Hey, I at least contributed. The really cool part about the process is that we were able to achieve the Gold Rating in an early 1900's warehouse building. We pulled in 8 credits for water efficiency related items and 8 for energy efficiency. We also received 4 credits for renewable energy since, among other practices, we are buying 100% renewable energy credits in every office in our firm. And yes, there really is a credit available for alternative commuting, i.e. riding my bike while freezing my thumbs off. (I got frostbite this winter because I couldn't find my gloves that were hiding in the pockets of the liner of the coat I was wearing instead of the pockets of the shell.) Actually the credit was given for surveying staff to find out how many were utilizing alternate modes of transportation for commuting to work rather than driving gas guzzling cars. We had over 10% that said they regularly ride a walk, ride a bike, car pool, ride the bus, drive a hybrid or electric vehicle, ride a unicycle, crawl on hands and knees, dance, kite surf or other creative and environmentally friendly ways of getting to work (probably just the first five).

(*The plaque above is from another building but we will eventually get ours to display with our Energy Star Building plaque.)

For more info on our LEED Certification process, see my post on January 28 entitled LEED Certification.

For more information on the USGBC or LEED rating system, go to www.usgbc.org