The Future of Green Buildings: An Aggressive Focus on Measurable Performance
28 September 2009
Next week, USGBC’s newly announced Building Performance Initiative will be in
full swing with the first of five summits planned to raise the level of discussion
about how we can ensure that all green buildings perform the way they are intended
and that our entire building stock – new and existing buildings alike – is upgraded
for measurably better energy, water, human health and natural resources outcomes.
The first Building Performance Initiative summit, in Chicago on Sept. 29, will be
followed by an Oct. 6 summit in San Francisco, an Oct. 8 summit in Los Angeles, an
Oct. 15 summit in New York City, and an Oct. 21 summit in Washington, D.C. These
summits will convene between 75 and 100 people each, and attendees will bring the
experience and expertise of a diversity of sectors, including representatives from
local, state and federal governments, USGBC chapters, LEED project teams, developers,
architects, engineers and many others.
The summits will combine lessons learned from the current state of building
performance – both success stories and signs that improvement is needed – and
USGBC’s proposals for raising the bar on performance. They will provide an
opportunity for participants to view USGBC’s data collection agenda and proposed
analysis methodology and to provide feedback and share their own ideas and insights.
USGBC will report on these summits at the 2009 Greenbuild International Conference
and Expo in Phoenix, Ariz., Nov. 11-13.
For nearly a decade, LEED has been driving a change throughout the building industry
that has led to a new consciousness about the way our buildings are designed,
constructed and operated. This new focus on building better buildings has meant
great potential for increased efficiency and sustainability, but USGBC has recognized
that there is a difference between intention and actual performance.
For the vast majority of well-designed and well-built buildings, the performance
advantages are clear. However, when building occupants fail to understand or fully
take advantage of their green buildings, there can be a performance gap that we must
fill if we are to truly transform the built environment. And without an aggressive,
proactive campaign to address performance, the gaps will not be filled.
So the summits are only the first part of the Building Performance Initiative.
They begin an essential national discussion about buildings and will guide the
continued evolution of a program that is committed to real performance in all buildings
through rigorous data collection and analysis, feedback loops and continuous searching
for better ways to design, build, manage and occupy buildings.
Quality data about building performance is key to this initiative and will serve two
vital purposes. First, the LEED-certified buildings that participate – initially,
between 300 and 500 pilot participants dating back to the very first version of LEED
– will receive detailed information on how they are performing, what’s working, and
where there is room for improvement. This will allow those buildings’ owners,
facilities managers and occupants to make crucial changes to their own protocols
and may lead to upgrades, repairs and other efforts to fill the gap.
And USGBC’s ultimate goal is that one day, every owner or manager of a LEED-certified
building will be actively engaged in measuring, analyzing and improving that building’s
performance. USGBC took the first step toward that goal by announcing that, under LEED
2009, LEED certification will require project teams to collect and submit ongoing
performance data, either through their own measurement or by allowing USGBC access
to utility bills and other information.
The second outcome of this data-collection campaign will be its ability to drive
the ongoing evolution of LEED, USGBC’s strategic planning, future breakthroughs
in green building science and technology, improvements in public policy and
private-sector initiatives, and an overall better understanding of how we can
continue to work toward our goal of green buildings for all within a generation.
Green buildings are living labs, and the Building Performance Initiative aims to
ensure that all buildings contribute to the body of green building research and
knowledge, gaining a better understanding both of how their individual buildings
are performing and how we can use that information to improve performance
industry-wide.
Written by Maria Cahill
