Not Green Enough
By Seattle Business Magazine August 31, 2009
Local developers love to tout their “green building” projects, and the coveted LEED certification is a big part of that. Silver, gold, platinum, the LEED (which stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is issued by the Green Building Council to showcase the best of the best.
Turns out that’s not entirely the case.
As a story in today’s New York Times points out, a number of companies have figured out how to game the system, using features like landscaping and other small stuff to rack up the points to achieve the certification, while the buildings continue to be carbon-spewing energy hogs that can’t even get an Energy Star rating from the U.S. government.
As the reporting for LEED to the nonprofit industry group, the Green Building Council, is voluntary, I can imagine the temptation to game the system even further by… oh, I don’t know, LYING perhaps?… must be enormous.
Apparently the Green Building Council is strengthening the requirements, so that certified buildings must report continued energy use or lose their certification. But I suppose someone will figure out a way around this too.