Accredited professionals give green perspectives

The Springfield office of HMN Architects Inc. now boasts two members of the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design community, putting the firm among a growing number of companies to tap into sustainable education.

Steven Retherford and Christopher Hartleroad passed their LEED exams this spring, as two of the 26 companywide to become LEED accredited professionals.

"You don't have to be a LEED professional to run (a LEED project)," Retherford said. "It's just that passing this test ensures you understand how this process all goes together."

When it comes to LEED accreditation, the floodgates have opened, with many professionals in the design and building sectors adding LEED-AP status to their résumés in recent months.

Accreditation is granted by the Green Building Certification Institute, which manages the process for the U.S. Green Building Council. Its Web site, www.gbci.org, lists 105 LEED APs in Springfield as of Aug. 10 and more than 4,000 throughout Missouri.

While some professionals sought to achieve accreditation before the GBCI instituted LEED 3.0 in early July (see sidebar), many are responding to increasing interest from owners and developers to incorporate green aspects into design, as well as a February 2008 city ordinance requiring LEED certification for new public buildings.

Each step of the way

Jason Hainline, vice president of sustainable design services for Environmental Management Services Inc. and a green-building consultant in Springfield, said more professionals in all stages of the building process are pursuing accreditation.

"Teaching LEED workshops, the dynamics of the participants in the beginning would be 90 percent architects," Hainline said. These days, there might only be 25 percent architects as more contractors seek the right knowledge for handling construction of LEED projects.

He added that occupations ranging from lawyers to product salespeople to owners, developers and manufacturers have been earning certifications as well, to make sure they are well-versed in the LEED process.

Brandon Dake of Dake Wells Architecture earned his LEED certification in June and said having LEED APs in numerous steps of the process offers huge advantages.

"It's hard to think about all the opportunities to be green from the get-go, so when you draw other people in and brainstorm about what could be done, the opportunities multiply," Dake said.

Lance Garrett, project manager with Walton Construction in Springfield, said he decided to get accredited because of a company push for continuing education and in response to the city of Springfield's intent to make any new public buildings LEED certified.

"As an industry, we see the green movement pushing forward, and more people are accepting that - even if they don't get certification, they at least get LEED aspects in their facility," Garrett said.

An awareness issue

Growing awareness of green-building processes also is behind the push.

Retherford said increased exposure, however, also leads to growing numbers of people who could be considering going green for the wrong reasons.

"We talk to clients who want to be green, and we immediately try to understand what that means," Retherford said. "Are they trying to jump on a bandwagon? Do they want savings? Are they trying to use it for marketing? It's a buzzword right now, but we're in a position where people don't always understand the process."

Hartleroad noted that even if building owners study to become LEED AP and later decide the certification process isn't right for their buildings, there is still a great deal that can be learned from studying the materials.

"If they don't want to go for certification because of expense or the work involved, there are still areas they can take advantage of, such as daylighting, heating and ventilation," he said. "It benefits them and the users."

The future of LEED

As green technology and ideas evolve, so too will LEED rules for individuals and buildings.

Wells compared the progression to building regulations dealing with accessibility for the physically disabled. Once considered a luxury, accessibility is now mandated by the Americans with Disabilities Act.

Wells thinks that also will be the case with green building. He noted that the American Institute of Architects is working with the International Building Council, which writes building codes, to incorporate sustainability.

Retherford said many of the items in the original LEED standards dealing with energy efficiency already have been folded into building codes worldwide - which Hainline said is part of the goal of LEED.

"LEED will always go through changes - materials have caught up to the standards, but there's still waste and environmental impact, so now what can we do to make the process better?" Hainline said. "Now that people are comfortable with the current standard, they're saying, 'Let's raise the bar.'"

And despite the incorporation of green ideas into building standards, Dake said he doesn't see the need for LEED guidelines waning anytime soon.

"If the code adopts (green techniques), LEED is going to up the ante. LEED will always say, 'If this is the standard that code is requiring, we're going to ask you to do more,'" Dake said. "At some point, we will do all zero-carbon buildings with no waste, maybe. But I don't see LEED going away."