Yes, LEED-Certified Buildings on Chopping Block Too

After moving to block home weatherization, high speed rail and incentives for people to buy electric cars, all of which are significant job-creators in addition to being crucial for energy efficiency, the GOP is also working to eliminate greening of government buildings.

Instead, they push for oil drilling everywhere, including forcing the Canada tar sands pipeine through.

On the green building front, the House just passed the National Defense Authorization Act for 2012 (HR 1540), sponsored by Rep. Buck McKeon (R-CA).

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According to Environmental Building News:

    It prohibits use of Department of Defense funds to achieve LEED- Gold or Platinum, although waivers are possible if it can prove its efficacy through cost-benefit analysis for a given project or if achieving those levels "imposes no additional cost."

   The bill also requires the Secretary of Defense to submit a
cost-benefit report by June 30, 2012 on the sustainable design standards used by the military for new construction and renovations. The report will look at cost, payback, and return on investment of each level of LEED certification individually, of LEED volume certification, and of ASHRAE standards 90.1 and
189.1. 

   The bill "represents a rollback of the federal government at the
forefront of pushing green building and LEED," says Shari Shapiro, a green building attorney. "Over the last five years, the federal government has been one of the largest customers for LEED," and there are indications in other legislation that the House is trying to "push back the use of LEED particularly but also green building in general," she told Environmental Building News.

   The US General Services Administration (GSA) has required basic LEED certification for all federal buildings since 2003 and since 2010, it’s required LEED-Gold certification.

   And the military is on the cutting edge of green building, adopting  sustainable design principles in 1998 before LEED even existed, and since moving toward net-zero energy, water, and waste for all US installations.

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Last April, the US Army announced a "net zero" program. 6 bases will be net zero energy, by producing all the energy they consume on site; 6 will be "net zero" water by conserving and recycling water; and 6 will be "net  zero" waste by constructing net zero housing, recycling waste and phasing out landfills. That number will grow to 25 in each net zero category in 2014.

In a call with the press this week, Katherine Hammack, assistant  secretary of the Army for installations, energy, and the environment, reiterated the Army’s commitment to net-zero and LEED. "We’re finding it does not cost more to design and construct to LEED" standards, as quoted by Environmental Building News (EBN).

She said the Army won’t submit cost-benefit analyses for every  project. "The challenge right now is one of education," she explained. "If a building got a Gold-level certification and we were striving for Silver, that does not mean there was an incremental cost. We’re working to help prepare a report for Congress so they understand the benefit of high-performance buildings,"
quotes EBN.

President Obama’s Executive Order 13514, "Federal Leadership in Environmental, Energy, and Economic Performance," calls for new buildings to be net zero energy by 2030, and seeks a 30% reduction in water use and a 50% reduction in waste that goes to landfills.

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