Is LEED certification helping or hurting the green movement?!

[Peter Turkow]

Me personally, I think LEED has good intentions but is far from what the desired outcome should be. I recently saw a documentary called, 'greening Southie' which shows the process a construction company goes through to achieve a LEED gold, luxury apartment complex in South Boston, MA. The movie showed all the green products going into the building (dual flush toilets, sustainably harvested lumber, non-formaldehyde glues, low VOC paint, ect) but they were shipped and trucked in from all over the world. Most of the green products used in the complex could have been bought at least in the US and most in, at least Massachusetts but were not. They could have tested out the non-formaldehyde glue used to hold the bamboo flooring (bought and shipped from China) down on a 4' x 4' space to see how it would perform...but they didn't. They put down bamboo on a number of floors throughout the apartment complex and within a few days realized it was pulling up and not sticking to the subfloor. The workers ripped up most all of the bamboo, got new bamboo (from......you guessed it, China) and put it down with real glue. After seeing where all the products were from, the amount of machinery used, and the money spent I was solidified in my disbelief in the LEED system (and their fees!) when their "specialist" still gave them the Gold rating for the project. I could be wrong, but in my research I have yet to see a LEED rated strawbale, cordwood, cob, adobe or earthship style home get rated. Actually, many of the people I know who have (including myself) built these style homes don't want or need their home LEED rated because they learned the info from other builders who have let them in their home, read books or watched a video on TRUE green building. People have been building with these techniques for thousands of years and a good portion are still standing yet we don't look to them for our new vision of construction in the ever changing modern world. Last I checked, dirt, clay, stone, sand, straw and water are pretty local resources and very cheap ones at that. Anyone can learn to build these styles of construction with a little hands on experience, some books and some sweat equity and guess what....some can even be built MORTGAGE FREE!!! Hmmmmm I wonder if that would be interesting to people these days..........Now I know everyone needs to make a living but I feel like the local construction companies who build these cookie-cutter, plain-jane, energy-sucking, uncreative, overpriced, poorly constructed track homes are fleecing people of their hard earned money (or at least the people that responsibly bought a home) and our environment. If anyone in the cookie-cutter business would like to have a healthy debate this is the time to step up.........If that doesn't get a debate going I don't know what will.......

[Jeff Coles Smith]

Sounds like sustainable greenism for rich people. Better than nothing I guess.

[Peter Turkow]

It shouldn't cost an arm and a leg......the 'governing body' should be JUST that a group that oversees and makes suggestions; not charge the hell out of someone just to have their home built the way they see fit....as soon as TRUE alternative building methods are recognized, evaluated and graded I will start to support it. I don't think there are many people on the LEED governing body that know enough about cob, adobe, strawbale, cordwood, earthships, underground homes, ect to make educated ratings of them.....it seems as though just new technology and products are what is primarily being utilized in LEED certified homes......I want to see composting toilets, green roofs that don't cost a fortune to build (there are meny methods that are much less expensive than those currently being touted), and buildings that know the value of thermal mass; not just south facing windows and a few CFL lightbulbs. I intend to not just talk about this.....I am currently in the process of bringing these methods of building to the forefront for the city of Rochester and the surrounding counties. Our next meetup on March 25th (see our Meetup site) will be discussing our plans to get city approvals through proven testing that has already been conducted over the years to show natural building method's fire, earthquake, energy and cost ratings compared to conventional builing methods. So come on down if you want to help or learn!

[Robert Nelk]

LEED is too expensive for the common folk. Although there are draw backs such as the one you describe. I do believe there should be a "governing" body that can certify how energy efficient and environmentally friendly a home or building may be. Bottom line, most people, including myself look at upfront cost. If I have to spend some money to make/save money it should not be an arm and a leg either.