With so many existing buildings wasting energy, and poor indoor environmental quality contributing to employee productivity loss, why aren’t more building owners and operators pursuing sustainable/green operations? Is it possible that they simply have not been presented with a comprehensive, yet simple, approach to make their buildings energy efficient, environmentally sensitive and productive places to work, live and/or play?

Fresh out of an extensive revision to the original document, the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) green rating system for building owners and facility managers, Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for Existing Buildings (LEED-EB), has been re-launched as LEED-EB: Operations & Maintenance. This update addresses concerns with the original document that made it both costly and cumbersome to document and implement.

According to the USGBC: “LEED for Existing Buildings: O&M provides a set of performance standards for certifying the operations and maintenance of existing commercial, institutional buildings and high-rise residential buildings. The performance standards address issues such as site maintenance, water conservation, indoor air quality, energy saving programs, recycling facilities and programs, and green cleaning.”

With the existing building market more than 80 times larger than the new construction market, it is time to become more aggressive in addressing the energy and environmental cost that existing buildings present to our personal, societal and economic bottom line.

A Thorough Assessment

Typically before taking the leap on a new initiative, an assessment is made of cost, time and effort that will be needed to accomplish the goal. As with any rating system, the LEED-EB: O&M system presents myriad options to choose from. Among the 92 credit points in the LEED-EB: O&M rating system, there are undoubtedly a few that will not apply to every building’s sustainability plan.

In the late 1990s and prior to the widespread introduction of the LEED rating system, Denison University completely renovated Barney-Davis Hall, which houses the Environmental Studies and English programs, in an environmentally sustainable manner. Now, with Denison seeking LEED certification for the renovation of the 45,000-square-foot, 104-year-old Cleveland Hall Arts Center, they wanted to assess what it would take to obtain LEED certification for Barney-Davis.

As Art Chonko, Denison’s director of facilities stated, “We renovated Barney-Davis with sustainability as the core value, and we’ve tried to operate the building using green products and techniques since it was renovated. By pursuing the LEED-EB: O&M certification, we will be able to use the system and tools to check on our progress and to document that the building is operating as intended. Additionally, the positive aspects of sustainability — most notably reducing energy and resource consumption and creating a better indoor learning environment for our students — certainly provide incentive to pursue LEED certification.”

In starting the LEED-EB assessment process, Heapy Engineering began with a site visit to observe the building’s existing condition and its operations. Heapy also reviewed the construction documents from the building renovation project and spoke to Chonko about the university’s maintenance procedures, and discussed general operations throughout the university related to specific LEED credits.

The next step of the process was to individually assess the LEED prerequisites and credits. We started with the prerequisites (under LEED-EB: O&M they have been consolidated from the original 13 to nine). The prerequisites are important to evaluate first, as a project must achieve them to be eligible for any LEED certification level. Depending on the cost and effort that the project must go through to meet the requirements of the prerequisites, an early discussion with the owner may be necessary to determine whether the LEED assessment analysis should continue.

As with most projects, Heapy found that the university had already implemented various sustainability strategies for the building’s operations, automatically earning LEED points. Typically, a well-managed facility may initially attain between 12 and 16 points, placing these projects nearly halfway toward the first level of LEED certification.

As the assessment proceeded, several credit points were identified as those that the university would be able to achieve with minimal to no cost/effort. These became the first priority credits to pursue. Typically, these credit points are: MRc2 Sustainable Purchasing – Durable Goods, MRc4 Sustainable Purchasing – Reduced Mercury in Lamps, IEQc2.1 Occupant Comfort: Occupant Survey, IEQc3.4-6 Green Cleaning and Ic2 LEED Accredited Professional. (This last credit is achieved by having at least one principal participant of the project team identified as a LEED Accredited Professional experienced with sustainable best practices in the operations and maintenance of existing buildings.)

Then, Heapy identified the credits where the cost and/or effort to implement could be substantial. These may involve hiring additional consultants or complete changes to operations and/or purchasing. Example credit areas are: SSc7 Heat Island Reduction, MRc8 Solid Waste Management – Durable Goods, IEQc1 IAQ Best Management Practices, and IEQc2.2 Occupant Comfort: Occupant-Controlled Lighting.

When the summary LEED-EB: O&M Assessment Report was written, Heapy prioritized the list of recommended credits to pursue. For any project, the prioritization can be based either on cost, the owner’s sustainability objectives and/or the implementation effort required, or any combination of the three.