At Greenbuild, the USGBC presented the 2011 LEED for Homes Awards, recognizing projects, developers, and home builders who have demonstrated leadership in the residential building marketplace. An independent panel of judges decided on a diverse selection of these single-family, multifamily, affordable, and development projects:
Once again, there is discussion in the U.S. Green Building Council (“USGBC”) to allow other wood certifying organizations to have a place within the LEED guidelines for green construction. The new Pilot Credit 43 [PDF] for certified products would allow several wood certifications — e.g., Forest Stewardship Council, Sustainable Forestry Initiative, American Tree Farm — to contribute to a point under the trial credit.
If you’re looking for a back-of-the-envelope assessment of where your project fits in the LEED for Homes green building program, the USGBC just launched a new web-based tool for you. It’s called the LEED for Homes Scoring Tool, and it includes both a Quick Score (pictured) and a detailed Credit-By-Credit result with specific credit guidance.
In the past year, we’ve discussed several certified green projects but here’s the creme of the crop, 19 LEED Platinum ones. These projects, mostly homes, all vary — new, old, big, small, modern, traditional, single family, multifamily, certified, pending. Long story short, LEED Platinum, although difficult to attain, is where it’s at. If you’re going to pay for certification, why go for anything less than the best?!
Bastyr University‘s new student village was named Outstanding Multifamily Project of 2010 by the USGBC. Located north of Seattle in Kenmore, the 11-building project was designed by CollinsWoerman and earned LEED Platinum certification. It’s estimated to save about 34% on energy costs, as compared to a non-green, similar project, and houses 132 students.
Project Profiles
