Letters

Sustainable design will push us from our standard design practices to investigate and incorporate new energy and environmental technologies. As engineers we can be [reluctant] to deviate from the "tried and true" — composting toilets and waterless urinals may be as much of a hard sell on us as it would be to our clients! But the impetus to be flexible and creative is always present, and in today's world it may be most pronounced in the concept called sustainable design.

Kim Sullivan, PE, Smith Seckman Reid, Houston, Texas

Another change that will affect the way schools are designed and built is the new ANSI Standard S12.60-2002 ["The ABCs of K-12," BD&C , June]. This standard includes requirements for background and intrusive noise control, sound isolation, and room acoustic control to ensure an optimum learning environment. It correctly places acoustics alongside other issues to be evaluated and controlled in creating healthy classroom environments.

Ronald Eligator, Principal Consultant , Acoustic Dimensions, New Rochelle, N.Y.

As I've understood it, USGBC only allows corporate memberships and not individual memberships. This is contrary to what you wrote ["What next for sustainability?", BD&C, June].

I've also received numerous comments from architects that they are largely hesitant about offering their developer-clients LEED-certified efforts due to their complexity, newness, and up-front cost increases of about 3%. Some developers have not yet heard about LEED because their designers have not yet brought it to their attention. It's such a new thing that has been under constant change, yet many of the techniques have been around forever. It's like high school kids at their first dance — some stand around wondering who will make the first move.

Jeff Armin, Domco Tarkett, Houston, Texas

Editor's note: The writer is correct. USGBC does not permit individuals to become members.

I've found that the USGBC has been so successful because they encourage a sense of competition. By having different levels of certification, by advertising all of the LEED registered projects, and especially by advertising the other LEED-accredited professionals on their Web site, they have found widespread and rapid adoption with those that are trying to keep up with the environmental movement.

To achieve a higher success rate, it is important to convince not only the government, the wealthy environmentalists, and the poor environmental performers who need to improve their record, but also the general building development community, to adopt LEED. The USGBC needs to reduce its rates for certification and develop a much less cumbersome process. It's not just the rates the USGBC charges that are a drawback but also the rates to hire someone to do this due to the highly detailed process. Government incentives and much, much more funding into research on the actual quantitative benefits of sustainable design will also be necessary for everyone to buy in on the need for sustainable design for every building that is built.

Renée Azerbegi, CEM , Sustainable Design Specialist/, Mechanical Engineer, The RMH Group, Lakewood, Colo.

Is LEED adequate for ensuring good IAQ [in schools]? Are we getting the designed ventilation as far as CFM is concerned? Are we getting the required ventilation at the breathing zone of younger children? When is LEED going to the next level of being restorative rather than prescriptive? Is anyone else coming up with a true sustainability index to help in the process of moving toward being restorative?

David Sundersingh, LEED Accredited Professional, Fanning/Howey Associates, Celina, Ohio

I am with a small architectural firm that has one Bronze LEED certified building and is working on a Silver certification for another building for a community college here in Tucson.

The state of Arizona gives no support or guidance, and the city of Tucson is just starting to get on the bandwagon with a review of how its current standards hold up to the LEED criteria. This whole movement has been a grass-roots movement. We need to get the government behind the issue, and not just in government construction, but talking to the mass of the American people. Such a push from up high could really put things into gear and help educate people in ways to preserve our finite resources.

Sustainability has expanded greatly, but I think it is still largely viewed as a couture building fashion — only for those who can afford it and want to be trendy. We need to turn this thinking around and demonstrate the need for widespread acceptance of green tenets to the big audience. Maybe we can drag our "leaders" along with us.

Arthur Stables, CCS, LEED Associate, Burns & Wald-Hopkins Architects, Tucson, Ariz.

A thoughtful, insightful review of this topic is needed, not only the merits of sustainability-influenced architectural design, but [also] issues affecting construction sites and disposal, methods of financing green projects, [and] the issue of life-cycle assessment vs. LEED certification. A true picture of the benefits of energy codes, both IECC vs. advanced code compliance measures, should also be looked [at], and finally how to convince clients/owners of the benefits of sustainable design.

Martin A. Davis, Professor, School of Architecture, Clemson University

I cringed a little when I read that LEED has been criticized as overly restrictive and specialized. It seems to me that part of the prestige of LEED is that the LEED requirements are quite strict, particularly for the Gold and Platinum awards. I would hope that the USGBC and the LEED program will continue to be very restrictive about what it takes to join or to get an award. As far as being specialized, perhaps that is a legitimate concern. I would like to see them get involved with more types of buildings, and perhaps more involved with the unique processes and procedures that are integral to certain industries. However, it seems they are already moving to rapidly expand the LEED program. I commend the USGBC on a job well done!

Scott DeVries, Energy Engineer, State of Michigan, DCIS, Energy Office

Any suggestion that a green building can match or come under the cost of a conventional style building is false. We built a dining hall using hay bale walls and other "green" materials and the cost was estimated to be 20-30% more than if it had been built with conventional building materials.

The only segment that is touting "green" is the public sector, where spending taxpayer monies is of little concern, and large corporations who have lots of cash to spare and want to appeal to the environmentalists. Universities are also touting "green" where it can put architect-professors to work teaching a novel subject.

Most of our clients are small businesses. They don't care about "green." They are interested in first cost and first cost only. When you start speaking about "green," they become disinterested and incredulous.

With "green," there are few suppliers for the materials. Some of the products being touted for "green" construction, moreover, are being sold on an experimental or trial basis. Our customers don't want to be guinea pigs for some special interest group's pitch.

Ernest R. Freeman, Project Manager, Antrim Engineering & Construction, Livermore, Calif.