We have a guest speaker today!

Please welcome Christopher G. Hill, a construction lawyer, who’s here to discuss how building green can really build your savings.

LEED: Good for the Environment and Your Pocketbook

The Debtress was kind enough to allow me the opportunity to present the key money-saving components of LEED/Green building:

LEED uses an integrated project approach to reduce “First Costs” (i.e. initial outlay of money) and “Operating Costs” (costs of maintenance and operation):

Energy Costs

First Cost Savings: Use of LEED-based principles such as alignment along an east-west access, use of natural light and reflective paint colors, and use of energy reflective or absorbent materials requires a lower initial outlay for such things as:

• light bulbs (fewer will be needed with more ambient light)
• HVAC capacity (Less duct work, lower capacity [and cheaper] heat pumps)

Because this initial outlay is lower, the First Costs of a project are reduced by the LEED integrated approach.

Operating Costs:

The lower First Costs above lead to the use of less overall energy and the need for less maintenance.

For example, fewer overall light bulbs mean fewer to replace and lower capacity HVAC means lower maintenance and overall energy costs to run those units.

Water Costs

First Costs: Use of LEED integrated processes leads to less need for irrigation piping and other initial costs.

Operating Costs:

Here is the big savings in water costs.

A recent study showed that LEED based buildings used less than one quarter of the water that a non-LEED based building used.

Clearly, such a reduction results in a much lower operating cost, not to mention the conservation of natural and water treatment resources.

Don’t just take my word for it. Check out the study linked above for more information.

Additionally, please check out these resources for more information:

• www.stopwaste.org
• www.usgbc.org
• www.reallifeleed.com

If you are interested in further construction law discussion from mechanic’s liens to green building, please check out my blog at http://www.constructionlawva.com and join that conversation.

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