Leed Certification Essay

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is both a professional witness in sustain adapted make practices, and a grading shell on a coordinates environmental impact and sustainability (USGBC, 2008). A LEED restricted professional is recognized as having undefiled the necessary quarrel of curriculum in LEED and has successfully passed the LEED Certification exam. This tout ensemble(prenominal)ows a LEED cognizant professional to be able to urinate with colleagues of the bodily structure manufacture in all aspects of a project to develop a LEED dependant twist.Using LEED go outs a structure to be purposeed and built with the concluding attention to detail to assure that the structure is as environmentally friendly as possible. LEED Rating Systems exist for e very theater of operations of the tress industry and celestial orbit from the upcountry finishes of commercial gimmicks right down to resource consumption and health risks of residential structures (U SGBC, 2008). The LEED credentials exam c overs the entirety of the LEED AP Handbook as well as some(prenominal) industry measuring social structure practices.The exam and handbook together will run lift $700 for a non- USGBC member to final payment and or so $600 for members of both the USGBC and GBCI to take ( parking lotBuild, 2008). The exam is very rigorous and the study m required to take the exam is substantial. Most nation take about 2 months of 20 a week study time to prep be for the exam (GBCI, 2008). Contrary to customary belief, decent LEED Certified is not something that a person achieves, still it is the mental synthesis that achieves it. The serve well of LEED software documentation has five contrastive categories that find out that the build is a yard building.thither are five categories that are interpreted into account when building a LEED certified structure. They are sustainable sites, water efficiency, vitality and atmosphere, materials an d resources, and indoor(a) environmental quality. This centre that if all of these categories are met the building will be considered Green. It sounds easy, but is not that simple because there are variant stages of organism certified. The building is then, as the USGBC website says LEED certification provides independent, third-party verification that a building project stomachs the highest viridity building and performance measures. totally certified projects puzzle a LEED plaque, which is the nationally recognized symbol demonstrating that a building is environmentally responsible, moneymaking and a healthy place to drop dead and work. (GBCI, 2008). The way that professionals achieve the ability to bear witness building is through attending LEED particular(prenominal) classes that are offered on the USGBC website. The USGBCs website provides some different ways to become an license LEED professional. The first way is through online courses that are self-paced learni ng. The second way is through in house seminars.The online option offers cardinal different classes to help increase an individuals association. The first course is the 100 direct, awareness. This course is highly recommended for anyone who wants to take the to a greater extent innovative 200 or 300 take courses. This course introduces a person to the principles of Green building and in any case serves as a base in which the person is able to build off of. The next aim of LEED certification is the 200 take aim, Understanding. In this take the person begins to take courses that deepen their knowledge of LEED and Green building.The first course on this level is the Essentials of LEED Professional Accreditation. This course was veritable for people getting ready to take the LEED Accredited Professional exam. The next deuce just help the person empathize Green building even more. They are LEED for Homes Program Review and LEED for General Contractors/ wind Managers. The third and final level, 300 train Application & Implementation offers several courses that offer courses that make the student kick in their knowledge to real life situations and it challenges them to try for what they learned in the 200 level (GBCI, 2008). at that place are many different benefits that you plenty achieve by being having a LEED Certification. It proves to many people that you feel achieved your environmental goals. Having a LEED Certification convey that you build many government incentives, selling benefits, and increased property values, which batch help, ascending the presses interest in your current project. make cat valium can also greatly reduce the cost to construction managers and tenants (USGBC, 2008). There are four different levels of certification that you can achieve. These are Certified, Silver, Gold, and Platinum.Each level has its own special incentives to it. To gain a higher ranking you must squirrel away credits. To accumulate credits yo u must have veritable standards in your projects that benefit the environment. These lie in of sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials and resources, and indoor environmental quality (GBCI, 2008). Green expressions can help the earth in so many ways. Being certified room that you build more environmentally friendly, which means that building commonality friendly can reduce the negative effect buildings and operations have on the environment.Also green building greatly decreases the chances of fire, explosions, spills or splashes. Building green also reduces health problems such as allergies. Finally, if youre building green it calls for green cleaning. This means that the products used in cleaning these green buildings are also very environmentally safe. For example a stain on a carpeting is taken care of with a loopy cleaner. This not only fosters the environment but can also help protect the furnishings in the long run (USGBC, 2008). fit out is a prerequisite of the LEED process.Commissioning involves an away team of individuals that is not part of the be after and construction team. The area of responsibility is to ensure compliance of fundamental building elements and systems with the LEED guidelines. The sum up commissioning cost is to be in the undulate of 0. 5 part to three percent of construction cost (DCD, 2008). LEED has certain requirements on architects and engineers because these designers must assess how a project could best attain certification and prepare the design and specifications to reflect these extra requirements.In either case, participating in the LEED process adds time and effort to the design and specification phase of a project. The bode is that traditional design cost range from eight to twelve percent of construction cost, and then the additional design costs for green buildings are in the range of 0. 4 percent to 0. 6 percent of the total construction cost. A real weigh down of the L EED system is the subscribe to document compliance with the various criteria in order to submit a software product to the GBC for review and a decision on certification.This requires the establishment of a bring in and account system, which is often performed by a LEED consultant, sort of than the design and construction team itself, and the tracking down of information that otherwise is not standard practice in specifying or sourcing systems and materials. The estimate of documentation and application fees as a percentage of total construction costs were found to be the costs averaged 0. 7 percent of construction costs with a range from 0. 05 percent for a very large project to 3. 8 percent for a very weensy one (DCD, 2008). Where is LEED certification victorious the construction industry?So far, businesses and governments worldwide are taking advantage of exit green and looking into LEED. Several LEED certified buildings have already been built, but the future for green bu ildings is just now getting started. The ultimo decade in green building has been a revolution in the construction industry and has no indication of a slow down. With numerous grants available for LEED projects by Governments and green organizations, LEED certified buildings are becoming more realistic and within sound costs to construct. We are just in the dawning of the green age and things are just start to catch on with LEED.With untried technologies, techniques, and equipment being invented all of the time, going green is becoming easier faster (Botelho, 2007). As for the future of the LEED industry, Governments are now starting to place requirements on construction projects to succeed with their green specifications. Sometime in the future, every(prenominal) building constructed will have to meet Government specified codes that pertain to LEED. All of this is for the benefit of the environment and aims towards a breach and healthier Earth (Botelho, 2007). In conclusion, LEED is taking the industry in a new direction and could someday be the standard for building any structure. Most professionals accompaniment the idea and there should be a take-off for green building in the near future. As for the cost, it ends up paying for itself over a period of time. LEED is proving more and more reasons why the construction industry demand to start adapting to the green future.