Sustainable Building Certifications: LEED

Ron Vokoun is Mission Critical Market Leader, Western Region, at JE Dunn Construction. Ron was previously Director of Mission Critical for Gray Construction and also served in leadership roles with Qwest Communications and Aerie Networks. You can find him on Twitter at @RonVokoun.

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Sustainable building certifications have been gaining momentum for several years now and data centers are jumping on board in increasing numbers. You have seen data center operators such as RagingWire, Apple and Digital Realty achieve the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED Certifications and/or the EPA’s Energy Star for Data Centers. Many data center operators aren’t sure which certification to pursue, or if they should pursue one at all. In order to make this decision a little easier, I have provided a synopsis of each certification and their pros and cons to help guide you toward your sustainable goals.

This column dives into LEED, and in Part II, I will cover the pros and cons of Energy Star for Data Centers.

What is LEED?

LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design and is a third-party certification program developed by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) in 2000. It has undergone many iterations and is now operating under LEED 2009. The certification process provides independent validation of a project’s green features and verifies that the building operates the way it was designed.

LEED Certification Process

LEED uses a points based system to achieve certain certification levels recognizing the effort and commitment by the owner and project team. There are four LEED certification levels with point requirements ranging from Base (40-49 points) to Platinum (80+ points).

At last count, there were 13 data centers that had received LEED Platinum certification.

LEED points are weighted by impact on energy efficiency and CO2 reduction. As an owner/end-user, your first decision is which LEED rating system you intend to pursue your certification under. Data centers will fall under one of the following rating systems:

Other rating systems that are not applicable to the data center industry are Schools, Retail, Healthcare, Homes, and Neighborhood Development. For the purposes of data center certification, Commercial Interiors is most frequently used.

Once your rating system is chosen, points are earned through implementing green measures in each of several categories. Each category has prerequisites that must be achieved before any points are earned. The categories are:

As you see, it is critical that the decision to pursue LEED Certification is made at the beginning of the design phase to eliminate redesign associated with tailoring materials and methods to LEED standards. During design, the project is registered with the USGBC ($450 for USGBC members and $600 for non-members) indicating your intent to pursue certification.

Also during the design phase, a worksheet indicating the credits you intend to pursue is completed. As the design progresses, credits are approved toward certification. This process continues during the construction phase as the sustainable measures are implemented and documented.

Clearly, documentation is the key to gaining credit for all of your efforts and requires constant attention. This effort should not be taken lightly and must be overseen by a LEED Accredited Professional, preferably with a specialty in the rating system you are pursuing. Documentation may take 50% or more of a team members’ time during the duration of the project.

When construction is complete, the project must be commissioned to ensure that the building operates as it was designed. Given that all data centers perform this task, no additional effort is required. Upon completion of the commissioning, all documentation is submitted for final approval and a fee is paid for certification.

The USGBC states that the average cost of certification across all rating systems is $2,000, but can be as high as $27,500 for a large project. After the submission is approved, your building can be included in the LEED registry and you receive the plaque for your building.

Pros of LEED Certification

With this amount of effort, there had better be a payoff, right? There are multiple benefits of LEED certifying your data center such as:

Cons of LEED Certification

There are trade-offs with regards to LEED Certification, especially in the data center world. These include:

The next installment will cover the benefits and drawbacks of Energy Star certification, and some guidance on which to chose for your project

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