LEED and Energy Efficiency Purists

Our clients come from many walks of life. Some are very fortunate and well off; others less so. Some are quite idealistic when it comes to energy efficiency; some are more pragmatic.

One reason LDa so strongly recommends registering a project with the US Green Building Council’s LEED program is that LEED is an excellent STARTING point – it is a widely recognized, industry and consumer-friendly standard – and we believe that it is much better to start down the path to greater energy and resource efficiency than to do nothing. LEED is often under fire from building science experts and idealists – the latest call is to install LEED plaques with removable screws because of the lack of post-occupancy verification requirements – but much of this criticism is pure pessimism and fatalism. Not that these folks don’t have a point: to be sure, we humans have messed so fundamentally with our climate that to deny the mess is foolish. But to assign blame and guilt about not fixing the problem the “right” way is a losing proposition. The question is how to address the problem as a community – and unfortunately, we believe that “follow the expert” thinking can, in the case of energy efficiency, lead us down a path to cynicism and inaction.

Taking LEED to task is fine. But we are somewhat skeptical of experts who cast aspersions on LEED – like good New Englanders, and we certainly recommend people take expert advice (even ours) with a grain of salt. What we object to is the effort to undermine a nascent movement, like LEED, that with the proper support can only make our collective situation better, is downright unhelpful. So, next time you hear someone bashing LEED, call us up: we’ll prove to you that LEED is a good place to start, and if you’re up for more – so are we. We’re your architects, and our job is to help you find that balance between ideals and reality.