Advocating for LEED
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I was curious if anyone has tried implementing the process of life-cycle costing in to their campus planning before advocating for LEED buildings on campus?
A common problem I seem to hear (and have seen myself) is administrators/staff only see the upfront cost and don't look at the whole-life savings down the line. Do most people just explain it along the way to advocating for LEED and wrap it up in that package? Do you think it would be easier getting LCC implemented first and then push for LEED?
I know at the University of Missouri the maintenance staff already practiced life-cycle analysis on cleaning products, air filters, etc. before purchasing. Perhaps finding those examples and expanding on them within facilities before pushing for LEED would be easier.
I appreciate any of your thoughts.
Pat
Pat;
I am an architect and on the board with AASHE. I agree very much with Stephen Campbell. If you use seasoned green architects, design decisions can usually be very cost effective. An example of this might be integrating sun shading devises to reduce or eliminate air conditioning. If designed correctly, this can be net zero cost increase and the payback is very quick.
I led a LEED silver project several years ago for Portland State University and presented it at a conference a few years later. What I didn't know at the conference is that a person speaking after me was a masters student doing her thesis on the actual energy and water savings of the project. She looked at it from an economic standpoint of rate of return, etc. I was a bit terrified that she might reveal some failure in our design assumptions. This is a reletively old study (7 years ago), but it might shed some light on the advantages of LEED in life cycle costing. The numbers are actually much better too since this study was done before the big energy cost explosion a few years back. If you are interested, I can email it too you.
Ron
Hi Pat,
Princeton University uses LCCA on all building projects to assess major systems and green design options. If you e-mail me directly I would be happy to share contact information.
Best,
Jaime Van Mourik
USGBC
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Pat -
I can't answer your question directly, but let me pass on an excerpt quoting architect Stephen Campbell of Dartmouth College’s planning, design, and construction office.
‘“What I’m seeing... is that we’re able to save money not only through the life of the building, but in terms of initial cost of construction. It’s not costing more to go green; it’s costing less.” It turns out the highest savings come from an integrated approach to design and engineering that persists from preliminary design through construction and operation. “The green design isn’t a tack-on to the normal building process—it’s a cradle-to-cradle philosophy,” says Camp- bell, echoing a phrase that is the title of a best-sell- ing book on sustainability.’
I don't know whether they've adopted a life cycle costing policy, but they certainly seem to get the idea! [It appeared in the Summer 2007 issue of Dartmouth Medicine, which is available online at dartmed.dartmouth.edu/archives.php]
peter