Comments on: Nissan Disses U.S. Green Building Council http://www.environmentalleader.com/2008/03/10/nissan-disses-us-green-building-council/ The Executive's Daily Green Briefing Tue, 24 Nov 2009 20:47:55 -0800 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Brian http://www.environmentalleader.com/2008/03/10/nissan-disses-us-green-building-council/comment-page-1/#comment-113059 Brian Thu, 12 Mar 2009 17:26:49 +0000 http://www.environmentalleader.com/2008/03/10/nissan-disses-us-green-building-council/#comment-113059 Pete, What a great point you made about the 0.1% of the $100 Million budget. Pete, What a great point you made about the 0.1% of the $100 Million budget.

]]> By: Pete http://www.environmentalleader.com/2008/03/10/nissan-disses-us-green-building-council/comment-page-1/#comment-42141 Pete Wed, 12 Mar 2008 21:57:52 +0000 http://www.environmentalleader.com/2008/03/10/nissan-disses-us-green-building-council/#comment-42141 Oh, and the cost of registering and certifying this project with the USGBC would be $16,550. There are some documentation and modeling costs as well (I assume they had the building commissioned so I won't add those costs), but I would think that they would be less than $100K. So, the cost of that "plaque" would at most be about 0.1% of that $100 million budget. Seems like a good investment in validating that project to me. Oh, and the cost of registering and certifying this project with the USGBC would be $16,550. There are some documentation and modeling costs as well (I assume they had the building commissioned so I won’t add those costs), but I would think that they would be less than $100K. So, the cost of that “plaque” would at most be about 0.1% of that $100 million budget. Seems like a good investment in validating that project to me.

]]> By: Pete http://www.environmentalleader.com/2008/03/10/nissan-disses-us-green-building-council/comment-page-1/#comment-42081 Pete Wed, 12 Mar 2008 15:09:12 +0000 http://www.environmentalleader.com/2008/03/10/nissan-disses-us-green-building-council/#comment-42081 We know that LEED certification costs money... mainly in USGBC certification costs and in design documentation costs. So yeah, you could put that money into other areas of a building (or in this case, wetland). That's all fine and dandy if you don't plan on marketing your building, submitting it for awards, and preaching to others about the benefits of sustainability. If you do plan on doing that though (as I'm sure they do), you really should pursue some kind of third party validation, which LEED does a great job with. There is a very prominent architect in my town that loves to say, "LEED is just a buzzword. We've been doing that type of design all along." Yet whenever I visit one of his airports or convention centers, I smell off-gassing carpets, see lousy use of daylighting, and find materials that have had to be imported from outside the country, let alone a 500-mile radius. The point is, you can say you're doing the right thing, but unless it gets a seal of approval (LEED, Green Globes, etc.) then I'm going to be inherently skeptical. We know that LEED certification costs money… mainly in USGBC certification costs and in design documentation costs. So yeah, you could put that money into other areas of a building (or in this case, wetland). That’s all fine and dandy if you don’t plan on marketing your building, submitting it for awards, and preaching to others about the benefits of sustainability. If you do plan on doing that though (as I’m sure they do), you really should pursue some kind of third party validation, which LEED does a great job with.

There is a very prominent architect in my town that loves to say, “LEED is just a buzzword. We’ve been doing that type of design all along.” Yet whenever I visit one of his airports or convention centers, I smell off-gassing carpets, see lousy use of daylighting, and find materials that have had to be imported from outside the country, let alone a 500-mile radius. The point is, you can say you’re doing the right thing, but unless it gets a seal of approval (LEED, Green Globes, etc.) then I’m going to be inherently skeptical.

]]> By: Larry Hands http://www.environmentalleader.com/2008/03/10/nissan-disses-us-green-building-council/comment-page-1/#comment-41912 Larry Hands Tue, 11 Mar 2008 15:22:53 +0000 http://www.environmentalleader.com/2008/03/10/nissan-disses-us-green-building-council/#comment-41912 If Nissan truly wanted to be Green, they would have located the building in an urban center served by transit to avoid the parking deck and avoid all of the fuel used to access the building by all of the employees. Also, do they have a program to ensure that employees can work, even if they cannot drive or do not have access to an automobile? Perhaps this is why they are avoiding LEEDs, because they wouldn't meet much of the criteria. If Nissan truly wanted to be Green, they would have located the building in an urban center served by transit to avoid the parking deck and avoid all of the fuel used to access the building by all of the employees. Also, do they have a program to ensure that employees can work, even if they cannot drive or do not have access to an automobile? Perhaps this is why they are avoiding LEEDs, because they wouldn’t meet much of the criteria.

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