Buildings are more than a facility for a company, a place where people work, or just a structure. A building has an impact on the health of both people and on the planet. A building consumes energy and resources, creates waste, and requires special maintenance and operation.
This is where the idea of the green building comes in. You’ve probably heard about “green buildings” and understood that it has something to do with making a building environmentally friendly. It’s more than that. Green building means the design, construction, operation, and eventual demolition of a building to maximize the health of the people in it and their productivity, while lowering energy and resource consumption and alleviating its negative impact on the environment.
A green building means better conditions, lower costs, and a superior environment over all. Green buildings are also boosts to the economy. Green construction has directly contributed to the creation of over 1.1 billion jobs and $75.6 billion in wages.
How can you ensure that your planned new building meets the standards for a green building? That’s what LEED-certification is for.
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design
LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is a green building rating system—the most widely used one across the planet, recognized as a symbol of sustainability. Every day, 2.2 million square feet is LEED-certified across 165 countries. It applies to all types of buildings, and almost certainly applies to the commercial building you currently want built.
LEED provides a framework to create buildings that meet the highest standards of lower energy and resource consumption, cost-savings, and occupant health. It’s also an inducement to tenants who are looking to occupy green buildings. Your brand is stronger when you have LEED-certified facilities.
How Does My Building Achieve LEED Certification?
The LEED certification system is based on your building satisfying prerequisites and earning additional credits. Prerequisites are necessary elements or strategies that any LEED-certified project must have. Credits are optional elements to include toward even higher levels of certification. Below is the standard levels of certification:
- 40 to 49 points: Certified
- 50 to 59 points: Silver
- 60 to 79 points: Gold
- 80 or more points: Platinum
This probably already sounds too complicated, but this is the reason you hire an advanced and respected company like ours. We provide the guidance to explain how to earn credits and the best approach to meet LEED prerequisites. We use an integrative process and check on water, energy, materials, and indoor environmental quality so you’ll have LEED certification when we’re done.
When you let us handle your construction services in Olympia, WA, we’ll help your building achieve LEED certification. We provide a wide range of products and services for commercial buildings, and we cover the complete life cycle of buildings. We also handle many special projects—and we treat every job as a special project that receives attention that goes above and beyond. Trust us for your building construction and LEED certification in Western Washington.
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