Are You a LEEDer?

Posted on March 9, 2010

Here’s the thing about LEED—even if you’re not involved in LEED-certified projects, your projects are certainly being influenced by LEED as the market moves toward more efficient and sustainable buildings.

Matt Todd, Entek, in his presentation "To LEED or not to LEED – That is the Question," contends that client expectations will create demand for greater expertise in discovery and energy analysis outside the traditional HVAC scope. Contractors and engineers have a unique perspective and capacity to understand, model and deploy solutions to the marketplace, he said.

"If LEED were all about energy, Energy Star wouldn't have any traction, but as you'll see that's not the case," he said.

Todd pointed out that when LEED first came out, the paradigm was more about earning points and managing first-time costs. "It was really not about building a sustainable building," he said. "It was about coming in and saying, 'I want to do silver, now how do I get points?'"

As the program matures, a new paradigm has emerged that reflects the truer nature of the LEED initiative. "LEED equals performance, it doesn't equal points," he said. "Whether [the project] is silver, gold, platinum, shouldn't make a difference."

Todd does, however, have some skepticism about the LEED program, which is a healthy place for HVACR contractors to be, he noted. Be educated about LEED and at the same time pose important questions to the standard. "Are we really sure we know where LEED is going to take us and is that where we really want to go?"

Other workshops on a variety of HVACR business topics are continually presented this week in Tampa as part of ACCA’s 42nd Annual Conference and Indoor Air Expo. Read all of our blogs and news updates from the event at www.accaconference.com, or from your mobile phone at www.acca10.com.