The History of LEED Consultancy (1)

1. The History of LEED Consultancy Due to the significant energy use and carbon dioxide emissions caused by buildings, more sustainable living and working environments are required. The U.S. Office of Federal Environmental Executive defines "green building" as measures that reduce a building's adverse effects on the environment and human health while also improving a building or site's efficiency in using energy, water, and materials. The U.S. Green Building Council's LEED grading system is the most widely used for green buildings in the country (USGBC). In this post, let's examine the history of LEED, LEED Consultancy and how it has developed into the present day. The green construction movement emerged due to numerous national and international conferences and meetings on energy, the environment, and building rules. An energy crisis resulted from the 1972 Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) embargo, enacted during the environmental movement that began in the 1963s. Americans started questioning their nation's reliance on fossil fuels for buildings and transportation1. The USGBC was established in 1992 in the American Institute of Architects (AIA) boardroom, with participation from more than 61 businesses and nonprofit organizations. To encourage the improvement of buildings through sustainable practices in the building and construction sector, the USGBC was established as a membership-based nonprofit. ³ The council's founders were S. Richard

2. (Rick) Fedrizzi, owner of Green-Think, a marketing and communications consulting company. Michael Italiano, an environmental lawyer, construction manager, and real estate developer David Gottfried. Fedrizzi, currently the CEO, was chosen to serve as the U.S. Green Building Council's first chair. When LEED began to gain popularity in the market in 2007, most people believed they had to engage a specific LEED Consultant for each project, considerably increasing the cost. We believed LEED to be a handy tool, but one that discouraged users due to a complicated user interface. To encourage more green building projects, we wanted to democratize access to it. Moreover, we wished to do away with the notion that a LEED Consultant is a pointless specialist (and focus instead on the process's sustainability-related outcomes and meaningful elements). Well, maybe don't completely stop LEED consulting. We believed that LEED Consultancy can be used for very complex projects with challenging LEED implementation challenges and for building owners and architects who weren't interested in working it out on their own. That remains a large number of straightforward projects that have engaged teams and shouldn't need specialized LEED knowledge. The LEED certification process for these projects may be pretty simple and economical. Without a personal LEED Consultant, most people should be able to manage the LEED certification process, but it doesn't mean they won't require templates and sample documentation or inquiries. What if, for a small annual charge, they could obtain that advice from other LEED users, supported by a group of volunteer LEED experts?