Education Building, Sacramento |
One of the resolutions in the Governor's Green Building Initiative requires all existing State buildings larger than 50,000 square feet to meet Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED)-Existing Buildings standards to the maximum extent that is cost effective by no later than 2015.
The program involves three branches of the Department of General Services Real Estate Services Division including the Professional Services Branch, the Construction Services Branch, and the Building and Property Management Branch. These Real Estate Services Division branches are working to attain LEED-Existing Building (LEED-EB) certification for DGS owned and managed facilities. In doing so, they are setting standard policies that will assist other State agencies in attaining LEED-EB certification for the buildings they manage.
The DGS has developed several tools available to interested public and private entities to assist in understanding LEED-EB documentation and sustainable activities. See the Existing Buildings TOOLKIT for more information.
LEED Certification
The U. S. Green Building Council (USGBC) initiated the LEED program in 1998 as a means to standardize the elements of green building. The program is voluntary and the standards are consensus-based. Currently, the USGBC oversees three rating systems: New Construction (NC), Commercial Interiors (CI), and Existing Buildings (EB). Two other systems are in the pilot stage of development: Core and Shell (CS) and Homes (H), and another system, Neighborhood Development (ND), is in the early stages of development.
To receive LEED certification in one of the systems, a building owner must register a building and then provide documentation that the building meets the system's requirements. For each requirement it meets, the building receives a point. Depending on the number of points it receives, a building is eligible one of four certification levels. For LEED-EB, a building that earns 32 -39 points, receives a Certified rating. If it receives 40 - 47 points, it is certified Silver, 48 - 63 points earns a Gold certification, and a building that compiles 64 - 85 points gets a Platinum certification.
State Facilities with LEED-Existing Building Certification (for Operations & Maintenance)
| Building
| LEED Status |
| CalEPA, Sacramento (State-leased facility) |
Platinum |
| Department of Education, Capitol Area East End Complex, Block 225, Sacramento |
Platinum |
| Department of Health Care Services/Department of Public Health, Capitol Area East End Complex, Block 171, Sacramento |
Gold |
| Department of Health Care Services/Department of Public Health, Capitol Area East End Complex, Block 172, Sacramento |
Gold |
| Department of Health Care Services/Department of Public Health, Capitol Area East End Complex, Block 173, Sacramento |
Gold |
| Department of Health Care Services/Department of Public Health, Capitol Area East End Complex, Block 174, Sacramento |
Gold |
LEED-Existing Building Credits
The LEED-Existing Building scoring system allows credits for a variety of building design features ranging from providing bicycle storage in order to encourage alternate transportation, to retro-commissioning a building's mechanical systems to improve energy efficiency. The credits fall into five categories:
- Sustainable Sites, which covers exterior building site maintenance programs;
- Water Efficiency, which emphasizes water conservation;
- Energy and Atmosphere, which focuses on energy efficiency and pollution reduction;
- Materials and Resources, which encompasses environmental preferred products and waste stream management; and,
- Indoor Environmental Quality, which deals with ventilation and off-gassing.
Of the 85 credits that comprise the LEED-EB scoring system, 14 of them are pre-requisites that a building must meet in order to be certified. The 14 compulsory elements of the scoring system include the following:
- Erosion and Sedimentation Control
- Age of the Building
- Minimum Water Efficiency
- Discharge Water Compliance
- Retro-commissioning
- Minimum Energy Performance
- Ozone Protection
- Waste Stream Audit
- Storage and Collections
- Reduced Mercury in Light Bulbs
- Outside Air Introduction and Exhaust System
- Environmental Tobacco Smoke Control
- Asbestos Removal or Encapsulation
- Polychlorinated Biphenyl (PCB) Removal
The remaining 71 credits are optional; however, a building must receive a minimum score within each of the scoring categories to be eligible for certification. A building owner may pick and choose from the following elements those that are best suited to the building. Of these credits, 30 involve management plans, or procedure manuals that outline operations procedures. The 71 credits lie within the following elements:
- Chemical Storage Guidelines and Policy
- Green Cleaning- Low environmental impact Policy
- Interior Pest Management Plan
- Low-impact environmental Equipment Policy
- System of delivering prompt repair
- Indoor Air Quality Management Plan
- Exterior Pest Management Plan
- Purchasing Policies for green cleaning and low-environmental impact product
- Waste Management Policy
- Organizational Recycling Policy
- Source reduction program
- Mitigation Measures and Management Plan
- Construction Indoor Air Quality Management Plan
- Building space churn renovation plan and policy
Sustainable Framework
LEED for Existing Buildings provides a framework for the State of California to manage its existing buildings with sustainable operations and maintenance practices, so the State can reduce the environmental impact of its building portfolio over its functional life cycle. The State of California's use of the LEED-EB guidelines to operate its facilities demonstrates its commitment to making building management decisions that are fiscally sound and socially and environmentally responsible.
Please contact us with your questions or comments via e-mail at: green@dgs.ca.gov |
