26 June 2009
Although the certification of buildings under the Category New Construction and Major Renovations is the best known LEED has a category for existing buildings, I just added to this site a page dedicated to describing this category of certification.
Existing buildings are generally inefficient from the point of view of energy consumption and are responsible for much of the pollution and CO2 emissions. By applying the Green Building Operations and Maintenance certification, they have access to a whole range of possibilities to save energy and drinking water consumption, improve the environment of the occupants and contribute to the community by reducing its impact on the environment.
A large part of the requirements that buildings must implement under this modality correspond to good practices in the operation of buildings, changes of some inputs and controls of their operation. Much of these changes are considered low-cost or non-cost based on studies, evaluations, and surveys conducted on certified buildings.
The Leonardo Academy has conducted a study that analyzes the costs of implementing LEED certification for existing buildings:
http://www.leonardoacademy.org/
In this other link we find the news of the LEED certification of the Empire State Building. (Spanish)
http://www.realestatepress.es/MostrarNoticia.asp?M=0&Id=9268
