Compromise on LEED Certification

The bill proposing to prevent state construction projects  from   seeking  “green building” certification  under LEED  standards  (House Bill 628) appears to be moving toward a compromise.  An earlier post described the controversy over  LEED standards for wood products.  Yesterday, the Senate Agriculture and Environment Committee approved a  new – and entirely rewritten – version of  House Bill 628.  You can find the new bill draft here. The Senate version of House Bill 628 does two things:

  1.  The bill adds entirely  new  language on  energy efficiency standards for state construction projects. The Senate bill  would  change existing law to only require state construction projects to meet more aggressive energy efficiency standards adopted by the General Assembly  in 2008  if the result would be a net savings in construction and operating costs.  To calculate “net savings”, the bill uses construction costs added to operating costs for the first ten years after completion (as compared to building the same structure without meeting the energy efficiency standards).   The committee heard some concerns about using ten years of operating costs to calculate net savings.  Apparently most energy efficiency construction contracts use 15-20 years as the time period for recovery of costs and calculation of net savings.  Senator Tommy Tucker, who offered the amended bill language in committee, said that he would be willing to consider a different time period as long as it is reasonable.
  2. The bill completely replaces the original House Bill 628 language on acceptable  “green” building certification.  The Senate version would allow state construction projects to  use any energy efficiency/environmental design rating system that  “(i) provides certification credits for, (ii) provides a preference to be given to, (iii) does not disadvantage, and (iv) promotes building materials or furnishings, including masonry, concrete, steel, textiles, or wood that are manufactured or produced within the State”.   The LEED rating system seems to meet that requirement by  providing  specific credits for use of  regional  materials. You can find the list of LEED credits available for new building construction/major renovation projects here.    A new commercial building must meet basic  LEED  requirements  and earn a minimum of 40 points on a 110-point  rating  scale to get  LEED certification. Use of wood products meeting  Forest Stewardship Council standards  can provide one  point, but use of regionally sourced  building materials can provide  two  points  (if 20% of the building materials meet the regional material standard).

A footnote on the issue of LEED certification and  use of N.C.  wood products: There has been an ongoing fight over what should count as “sustainable” forestry. (See the earlier post  on a recent complaint filed with the Federal Trade Commission about  “green” labelling for wood products.) Setting that aside,  concerns about the  impact of LEED certification on use of N.C. wood products  may   also come  from  the  way architects translate LEED standards into specifications for individual construction projects   The  House bill sponsor, Representative Michele Presnell,  used an example of major renovations at Tryon Palace (a colonial era building in New Bern) where the material specifications required use of wood products meeting Forest Stewardship Council  standards. Although major wood producers are located within a stone’s throw of Tryon Palace,  Representative Presnell said  they were closed out of bidding because none of those producers operate under FSC  standards.   I don’t have any direct knowledge of the specifications for the Tryon Palace project, but if that happened it seems to be an unnecessary result even under LEED standards. With a 110-point rating system, there are many different ways to reach the  40 points needed for LEED certification.  It is possible to reach  LEED certification without relying on the one point for wood products at all. (And the wood products credit only requires that 50% of the permanent wood products used in the building meet the FSC  standard.)

A conversation between the N.C. forest products industry and the state chapter of the American Institute of Architects about how specifications for LEED projects can be written to support use of N.C. products might benefit the industry even more than legislation.

House Bill 628 is on the Senate calendar today and will then go to a conference committee to work out the differences between the House and Senate versions.