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Originally Posted by noclue
Apparently LEED certification is really expensive and all it is is just a piece of paper. I know several municipals that just installed eco-friendly features and skipped the LEED seal of approval it to save taxpayers money.
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No. There is a hell of a lot more to it than just adding a few "eco-friendly" features. Installing a few "eco-friendly features" might get you qualified for a LEED bronze.
I have worked on a few large scale LEED projects (Two LEED platinum, and few golds).
It's not just a "piece of paper" with a stamped certification. Basically at the end of the project, the LEED committee comes out and grades your development. Not at the beginning, but in the end after the thing is built. They assign you a bunch of points based on an extensive list of criteria. The number of points the development gets determines its rating.
Of the projects I've worked on, the ones that drop out of going for LEED certification is not because of the cost of certification,
but because they cheaped out on aspects of the build itself and they know they won't make their target LEED points. We call those projects "LEED-Like"
The other thing too is that the step from LEED gold to LEED platinum is huge, which is why only developments with massively deep pockets can ever attain that level.
Don't get me wrong, I don't personally believe there's any ROI for this LEED crap. It's mostly for hippy tree-hugger bragging rights.