LEED™ and Green Buildings

Powerpoint Slides At Trane, we believe that sustainable construction and reduced environmental impact are simply good business. Our membership in the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and strong support of Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) rating systems, coupled with our leadership in ASHRAE technical committees, reinforce our commitment to the development of present and future building standards that support green initiatives worldwide.

The LEED program certifies buildings at different levels of energy efficiency and environmental impact. Credit is awarded based on assessments in a number of different categories. As building owners are discovering, building or renovating to LEED standards ensures efficiencies that generally result in cost savings over the life of the building.

There are many HVAC strategies to help you address energy, indoor environment quality and water issues that in turn, can result in LEED credit. To help designers, Trane has compiled a host of green building resources into a small reference booklet called HVAC Resource Guide to help you narrow down your focus.

Trane commitment to LEED

Trane continues its environmental stewardship through industry renowned education in fundamental building design and construction. With more than 680 LEED Accredited Professionals on staff, six registered LEED buildings and one certified LEED building, Trane has the practical experience and resources to help you reach your green building design goals.

Trane continues to advocate high performance building design through EarthWise Systems design concepts for new construction and existing buildings.

Trane sponsors various green building conferences around the world, notably USGBC’s Greenbuild. Many local Trane sales offices are also aligned with local USGBC chapters to better serve building owners. Contact your local Trane representatives for LEED-related questions and updates.

LEED version 3 (v3) update

USGBC’s LEED version 3 (v3) consists of three components: LEED 2009, a new LEED accreditation and certification process, and LEED Online version 3. LEED 2009 for Green Building Design and Construction covers LEED for New Construction (NC), Core & Shell (CS), and Schools rating systems.

This new approach helps ensure consistency across different LEED rating systems.

Overview of changes:

• A new “bookshelf” concept was implemented. Each credit is a separate “book” and is the same for all applicable LEED rating systems. Each rating system consists of its own “bookshelf” of credits.
• Credit weighting was changed.
• New regional variations were introduced.
• In response to the marketplace, USGBC committed to a two-year development cycle, so the next changes will be LEED 2011. This provides stability to the marketplace, but still allows USGBC to respond rapidly when necessary.
• LEED now requires submission of actual energy and water use on an ongoing basis.

To learn more, please refer to HVAC and LEED 2009 Green Building Design and Construction.

LEED NC 2.2

The following pertains to projects registered under LEED NC version 2.2. HVAC and LEED NC version 2.2 is a Trane resource to help you examine your project’s applicability.

On November 11, 2005, the USGBC announced approval of LEED for New Construction (NC) version 2.2. A number of sections changed, including Energy & Atmosphere Credit 4 (EAc4).

It is important to note:

• All refrigerants must use this calculation method in LEED NC v. 2.2 – no refrigerant gets "a free pass."
• Beginning January 1, 2006, all new applications for certification must use version 2.2.
• While most R-123 chillers can achieve this credit using the default leakage rate of 2% annually, a leakage rate four times lower – just 0.5% annually – has been approved by the USGBC for new Trane R-123 chillers. Refer to USGBC’s Credit Interpretation Ruling on LEED version 2.2 administrative CIR 6/27/2006.

Additional LEED-related information:

• HVAC and LEED 2009 Green Building Design and Construction
• Engineers Newsletters on Energy and Environment
• How to achieve Energy & Atmosphere Credit 4 in versions 2.2, 2.1 or 2.0
• LEED-NC 2.2 Energy & Atmosphere Credit 4: Calculator
• LEED-NC 2.0 and 2.1 Energy & Atmosphere Credit 4: Jan. 11, 2005, Credit Interpretation Ruling Calculator
• Engineers Newsletter Live: LEED 2009
• Engineers Newsletter Live: Energy Saving Strategies for LEED (2008)
• Engineers Newsletter Live: LEED Case Studies (2007)
• Engineers Newsletter Live: LEED Modeling (2005)
• Engineers Newsletter Live: HVAC and LEED (2004)