When we consider locating the perfect building location for our business, we tend to look at several important factors and may ask ourselves certain key questions like:
How well will my business do in
this particular geographic location?
Is this space located in a high traffic area?
How much parking will I get for me,
my employees and future customers?
On the sustainability side there are also key questions that
need to be asked. If you are interested
in getting LEED certification, then you may be asking questions like:
How can I make my space energy efficient?
How can I reduce waste in my
business?
What are some effective ways to
recycle?
The LEED certification for Commercial Interiors helps
address important options to choose from.
In this post we will start by covering the first of six areas in LEED
Commercial Interiors-- Sustainable Sites.
Sustainable sites or SS for short encourages tenants to choose from one
of two options that adhere to green building practices.
The first option is to pick a building space that is already
an existing LEED certified space. The second
option is to choose from a list of different paths to earn up to 5 points. A few of the different paths to choose from
are:
The brownfield redevelopment
point can be earned if a building is on land that was once contaminated, but has
now been effectively remediated. Another point that can be earned is stormwater design which can be obtained
given the site has a stormwater management plan in action and is impervious to
a certain percentage. Yet another few
points can be received through heat island
effect design which considers the level of shading and the Solar
Reflectance Index a roof may have.
Some other paths to consider obtaining in option 2 are: light pollution reduction, innovative wastewater
technology, water reduction use, onsite renewable energy and lastly an
option is available to come up with your own quantifiable environmental performance to earn a point.
For more information on Sustainable Sites, check out
usgbc.org. Also, please feel free to
leave any comments or questions below.
