Owner: Real Life LEED URL:http://reallifeleed.com Join Date: Fri, 14 Nov 2008 18:41:22 -0600 Rating:0 Site Description: Devoted to LEED documentation and management tools, tips, and resources. For LEED APs of all experience levels. Site statistics:Click here
RealLifeLEED's Greenbuild Wishlist - Reference Materials 2008-11-13 08:12:11 With GreenBuild a mere six days away, I'm excited and hopeful for the new improvements and announcements that few days will bring. In some ways it's like LEED Christmas, and I've decided it might be fun to write a letter to Santa! I started writing this and determined I wish for too much for one post, so I've been forced to split my into many parts, so there's more to come. I've been good this y Read more:Materials
, Wishlist
RealLifeLEED's Greenbuild Wishlist - LEED-Online 2008-11-11 17:25:21 With GreenBuild a mere eight days away, I'm excited and hopeful for the new improvements and announcements that few days will bring. In some ways it's like LEED Christmas, and I've decided it might be fun to write a letter to Santa! I started writing this and determined I wish for too much for one post, so I've been forced to split my into many parts, so there's more to come. I've been good this Read more:Wishlist
Market Transformation and the Importance of Paperwork 2008-10-30 07:37:09 Nothing is as dangerous in architecture as dealing with separated problems. If we split life into separated problems we split the possibilities to make good building art.
Alvar Aalto
Theory
Fulfilling the promise from my last post, I want to step back and explain that something I witnessed last weekend that confirmed my belief in the power of LEED.
There are a number of articles and posts out t Read more:Market
, Transformation
7 Reasons the New PDF LEED Checklists Stink 2008-10-27 18:21:41 I realize I haven't sounded like much of a supporter of LEED lately, deciding instead to rant about problems like slow LEED-Online service. I do promise a post this week about why I love the USGBC and LEED in particular, but for now I have a little more bitching to do.
BOO creepy PDF Checklist...Hooray BEER!
This post is all about a horrible new development that the USGBC silently rolled out: Read more:Reasons
, Stink
LEED-NC vs. LEED for Schools: What's Different? 2008-10-21 19:01:28 If you're like me, you grew up with LEED for New Construction and have a penchant for sapphire martinis. Earlier today I was helping a few people in my firm run through a checklist for a feasibility report for a local school we're designing. I was extremely embarrassed when half-way through the checklist I realized we should be using the LEED for Schools
system instead of LEED-NC! The entire ra
LEED and Parking - Lessons Learned 2008-10-14 19:00:01 I've been working on documentation for SSc4.3 Alternative Transportation - Low Emitting and Fuel Efficient Vehicles and SSc4.4 Alternative Transportation - Parking
Capacity. We're providing less parking than is typically required and providing preferred parking for both carpoolers (5% of all spaces) and Low-Emitting Vehicles (LEVs - another 5% of all spaces) for total of 10% required preferred pa Read more:Learned
, Lessons
, Lessons Learned
Full Access to 13 LEED NC and CI Documentation Submittals... MOTHER LODE!!! 2008-10-07 17:34:21 This post makes me extremely happy for two reasons. The first is that I can let you know about a website that gives you access to completed documentation for 10 LEED-NC certified projects and 3 LEED-CI certified projects!!! (Sidenote - I realize I've been pretty heavy on the exclamation points lately, but there's just too much good info lately to resist! I promise I'll calm down soon)
The second Read more:Access
, Documentation
Obligatory LEED Exam Advice 2008-10-06 10:05:39 Real Life LEED is all about the practicing professional, but I can't help but notice how many of you reach the site via "LEED exam" searches and send me emails asking advice. All you future AP's listen up cause I'm only going to say this once! The rest of you die hard current AP's can stop reading and get yourself a beer...
The Basics
The test is a multiple choice test graded on an incredibly vag
FREE LEED-AP Exams! 2008-10-06 10:05:14 I sometimes help out with LEED AP study classes, and lately I've been fielding a lot of questions about when the current LEED exam will end. (ANSWER - I'm not sure, but my guess from the LEED-EB process is that it will be at least a few months after LEED 2009 is implemented before they update the test tracks. I'd say but cannot guarantee that you'd probably still be able to take the current NC a
Full Set of LEED-EB Documentation Online!!! 2008-09-30 18:10:12 Thank God for the good people over at University of California, as they have made an ENTIRE set of LEED-EB documentation available in pdf format for FREE online!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ( Read more:Documentation
I'm going to punch LEED-Online in the face! 2008-09-29 14:57:11 I don't know if you've experienced similar issues in the past week or so, but I haven't been able to log into any of my projects, much less edit them, in at least a week. I can sign in (only took 44 seconds on my last attempt), then I click on the project, and then everyone's favorite "Please be patient while we process your request. This may take up to three minutes" box pops up. I especially
Energy Modeling Further Demystified 2008-09-22 10:24:30 Building on the previous post on energy modeling, there is another introduction to the process posted over at BuildingGreen called "Understanding the EnergyModeling
Process: Simulation Literacy 101". Great read for beginners such as myself.
I found out about the above article thanks to Suzanne O'Leary of ThinkDwell--a company that designs homes making the occupants absurdly and a bit creepily h Read more:Further
Job o' the Vague Time Period: USGBC Regional Advocacy Consultant 2008-09-17 17:46:17 The US Green Building Council is seeking four (4) regional advocacy consultants to assist in coordinating and maximizing the advocacy work of our 78 chapters across the country. The regional advocacy consultants will work at the state, county and local government level to coordinate and assist our chapters in developing and implementing public policy strategies that advance green building practice Read more:Consultant
, Period
LEED Specs - Materials, Paperwork, and CYA 2008-09-17 17:37:08 I've been doing a lot of thinking about how LEED requirements are incorporated into the building's specs lately, in no small part due to the fact that I had to give a presentation on the subject last week. The result has been an interesting discussion on the 4specs discussion board (skip down to Anne Whitacre's first comment) and a realization that I've been too harsh on MasterSpec's LEED languag Read more:Materials
, Specs
The First LEED Lawsuit... Great... 2008-08-28 08:57:01 RealLifeLEED just stumbled upon an excellent summary of what could be the first LEED-related lawsuit at gbNYC. Let the frenzy begin! There are a few really scary issues involved, and unfortunately (or perhaps it's a good thing) it appears as though the case has settled out of court, so there's no ruling to work from at the moment.
What is clear is that the major issue was not the LEED certifica Read more:First
, Great
, Lawsuit
New EAc1 Compliance Path: No Modeling Required 2008-08-26 18:12:50 RealLifeLEED learned the hard way (from people I'm supposedly teaching about the LEED AP exam) that the USGBC has added another prescriptive compliance path for EAc1, Optimize Energy Performance, that can earn 2-5 points, thus allowing you to comply with the relatively new 2 point prerequisite initiated in June 2007.M
The Basics
If your project isn't a health care, warehouse, or lab project and is Read more:Compliance
, Modeling
LEED-Schools VOC Requirements Simplified! 2008-08-25 13:11:03 Those of you working on LEED-Schools
projects may have noticed the incredibly vague referenced standard for all VOC levels in EQc4: California Department of Health Services' Standard Practice for the Testing of Volatile Organic Emissions From Various Sources Using Small-Scale Environmental Chambers including 2004 Addenda.
Don't Bother Reading This
All you want is a concise table with VOC requirem Read more:Requirements
FREE LEED-NC Reference Guides!!! ...sort of 2008-08-18 17:08:42 As you may have guessed from the glaring caveat in the title, RealLifeLEED is waaaay too cheap to hand out legit reference guides for free, and I'm not yet ballsy enough to do it the illegal way either. What I'm writing about today is the fact that those who purchased old reference guides (NCv2.2 First Edition (Oct 2005) or Second (Sept. 2006) or CIv2.0 editions one and two) from the USGBC you ge Read more:Guides
LEED Forum Fun! 2008-08-14 22:09:18 I ♥ Online CommunitiesBelieve it or not, there are times (read: most of the time) RealLifeLEED has a question he needs help with and can't find an answer. As a general rule, that's when I fish the question out to the internet at large. Between AREForum
s' LEED section, 4specs.com's Sustainable Design Topics Section, and to a lesser extent DesignCommunity's LEED and Green Certification forum, you
Lighten up already 2008-08-14 22:08:01 A warning... The following post is about a long list of "How many ____ does it take to change a light bulb" jokes created by Tristan Korthals Altes of BuildingGreen... Unless you're REALLY into the green construction industry and all the people associated with it, you're probably going to hate me for sending you to this post about Green Building Jokes. They pretty much target everyone... owner re
Job o' the Vague Time Period: USGBC South Carolina Executive Director 2008-08-11 08:14:00 My local USGBC SouthCarolina
Chapter has put together a some money (thanks in no small part to USGBC national's Chapter Challenge Grant program) to hire a much needed executive director:
ExecutiveDirector
/Chapter Management Services
Contract Award: $30,000 - $40,000Contract Term: One YearReports to: USGBC-SC Chapter Board of DirectorsPosting Date: August 8, 2008Closing Date: September 5, 2008
Read more:Period
LEED Design Review Delay Update 2008-08-08 10:18:30 Just received a design review back from the USGBC... this time no humble pie... at least so far! It took 3 months and 6 days from the time we submitted to the time we received the initial comments from USGBC. You may have seen this press release from the USGBC about how they are expanding service, so these delays should be going down soon. For a more complete picture of the current review timel Read more:Delay
, Update
LEED VOC Requirements for Firestopping 2008-07-31 10:46:28 You may notice a trend in posts right now, as I'm on a bit of a VOC kick at the moment. (See indoor environmental quality (EQc4) posts on primers, phenol formaldehyde, and the interior/exterior issue.) The VOC requirements are quite vague, as good standard definitions of each category are hard for many products. Today I was asked to look at what VOC requirements there are for firestopping sealan Read more:Requirements
Helpful Tool from USGBC 2008-07-28 08:53:36 I don't know if most of you get this, but I've been impressed with the recent group of emails from the USGBC titled "USGBC Update". The most recent email (pictured below) actually provided some practical info regarding changes to LEED including the fact that LEED-EB 2.0 registrations end Thursday and a clarification that residential projects 1-3 stories in height must use LEED-Homes and not LEED-
LEED VOC Requirements for Interior and Exterior Paints 2008-07-22 11:29:28 Exterior Paints
Exterior paints and finishes are NOT covered in the requirements of EQc4, Low-Emitting Materials. That is to say, you could technically coat the building in a toxic 5000 g/l stew if you were so inclined. This is a small issue that many of you may already know about, but I remember back in the day I didn't catch the distinction and just received an email question about it earlier t Read more:Interior
, Requirements
Determining Occupancy: Hotel Edition 2008-11-26 13:27:51 I was recently asked how to determine occupancy for hotel rooms, found a credit interpretation ruling that included an acceptable formula, and decided to share it with you here! A CIR dated 5/13/2007 for a LEED-NCv2.1 project essentially stated that you would count all of the employees as full-time equivalent (FTE) occupants, and that you could use a multiplier for the persons/hotel room to deter Read more:Edition
, Hotel
Job o' the Vague Time Period: USGBC Central Texas-Balcones Excutive Director 2008-11-22 17:17:19 U.S. Green Building Council CentralTexas
-Balcones Chapter is hiring its first Executive Director
.
USGBC CT-B is a nonprofit organization that focuses on the transformation toward sustainable building and land development practices in Central Texas through innovation, advocacy and partnerships. The Chapter seeks a strong communicator and relationship builder to serve as our first Executive Directo Read more:Period
Major Changes to LEED AP Accreditation - A One Page Primer 2008-11-20 15:35:47 Immediately following the "LEED 2009: Lift Off" presentation was one from the Green Buildings Certification Institute (GBCI) titled: "GBCI: Accreditation
, Certification, and More." If the previous presentation was big on fluff and light on details, this one had me scrambling to keep up at my keyboard! Luckily, they posted a page that is uncommonly clear in listing dates for changes to occur!
Read more:Major
Dates for LEED 2009 Releases Announced at Greenbuild 2008-11-20 14:48:59 Full disclosure - I'm not at Greenbuild right now, but I am taking advantage of the live streaming seminars on greenbuild365.org. While 95% of the presentation was rehasing info that's been available for months, there was about a minute near the end that provided some extremely useful info! Full disclosure number 2, I report the following as someone who watched a presentation that was frequent
FREE Online LEED Water Use Calculator 2008-11-19 00:00:00 If you haven't found it already, Zurn has an online water use calculator that features a LEED option for comparisons. It allows you to quickly check the difference between various efficient fixtures for Water Efficiency Credit 3, Water Use Reduction. It isn't perfect (doesn't show total use reduction percentage), but it's extremely quick. It allows you to pick your scope (ie... if showers aren' Read more:Calculator
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