Environment & Sustainability

How does sustainable development and sustainability impact buildings?
Consider that non-residential buildings in the United States consume 30–40% of the nations energy, including 60% of all electricity. They also produce 30–40% of atmospheric emissions. These structures use 25% of all water, take up 35–40% of municipal solid waste stream and use between 25–30% of all wood and materials.¹

Sustainable standards for buildings are gaining wide acceptance. Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED®) Green Building Rating System™, established by the US Green Building Council, evaluates the environmental performance of facilities from an integrated, “whole building” perspective over a facility’s life cycle. It supplies the industry with the first and most comprehensive standard for what is a sustainable built environment.

What is LEED?*
The LEED Green Building Rating System is a voluntary, consensus-based national standard for developing high-performance, sustainable buildings. Members of the U.S. Green Building Council representing all segments of the building industry developed LEED and continue to contribute to its evolution.

LEED® was created to define “green building” by establishing a common standard of measurement, promote integrated, whole-building design practices, recognize environmental leadership in the building industry, stimulate green competition, raise consumer awareness of green building benefits, and transform the building market.

LEED provides a complete framework for assessing building performance and meeting sustainability goals. LEED emphasizes state of the art strategies for sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor environmental quality. LEED recognizes achievements and promotes expertise in green building through a comprehensive multi-faceted system offering project certification, professional accreditation, training and practical resources.

LEED-EB (Existing Buildings)*
LEED-EB is designed to complement the LEED Green Building Rating System™, Version 2.0 for new construction and major renovations. The LEED-EB Rating System is part of a comprehensive suite of LEED assessment tools under development by the USGBC to promote sustainable design, construction, and operations practices in buildings nationwide. LEED-EB is applicable to existing buildings that are seeking LEED Certification for the first time as well as projects previously certified under the LEED Green Building Rating System. LEED-EB provides the opportunity for building owners and operators to meet their sustainable operations goals and to reduce the impacts of their buildings on the environment and occupant health over their entire life cycle.

What is LEED-EB and how does it differ from LEED?*
Three major categories of building upgrades are the focus of LEED-EB:

• Buildings that are already currently LEED certified or operating according to green principles. LEED-EB helps fine tune and rate the level of green operation.
• Buildings with systems and infrastructures that are already efficient. LEED-EB helps guide the greening of the rest of the building operations.
• Buildings that require significant system retrofits and operational improvements to meet LEED-EB standards.

Lighting for LEED-EB
Lighting accounts for a significant amount of the energy used in commercial buildings, therefore, now more than ever, the lighting industry recognizes the need for providing sustainable lighting solutions. All LEED programs (including LEED-EB) encourage high-performance lighting, which entails using more energy-efficient lamps, employing task lighting whenever possible, and using sensors to reduce the use of unnecessary lighting.These practices significantly reduce the energy and power demand in the building, which is the largest consideration for buildings applying for LEED certification.

Lamp manufacturers and control companies are continually assessing their product portfolios and aim to make improvements for their customers, many of whom may consider applying for LEED-EB certification.

The biggest concern among facility managers considering green design—for new construction or for existing buildings—is cost. At Philips Lighting Company we believe that lighting is a product line that doesn’t necessarily cost more when used in an integrated system, such as those guidelines set in the LEED-EB program.

In fact, constructing or maintaining a sustainable building is a financial investment.The October 2003 report developed by California’s Sustainable Building Task Force entitled “The Cost and Financial Benefits of Green Buildings” finds that a minimal upfront investment of about two percent of construction costs typically yields life cycle savings of over 10 times the initial investment.²

Solutions for LEED-EB Lighting Standards
When it comes to lighting performance, existing buildings must have a maximum of 100 pico-grams per lumen hour to pass LEED-EB standards. At Philips we provide a wide array of low-mercury, long life, high lumen, high performance or optimized performing lamps that exceed this standard with a goal of achieving 80 pico-grams per lumen hour or below. Facility managers can visit www.philips.com to use an online Sustainable Lighting Index^SM calculator. Philips designed the calculator to be compatible with the LEED-EB lighting specifications.

Additional Information

+ The LEED® Rating System for Existing Buildings
LEED-EB addresses

1) Source: Energy Management & Investor Returns • The Real Estate Sector • Innovest Strategic Value Advisors Oct. ‘02
2) Capital E Group. (2003, October). The costs and financial benefits of green buildings, available at www.scsa.ca.gov/costs_financials.pdf.
* For more information go to the USGBC (U.S. Green Building Council) Web site: www.usgbc.org