Location, Transportation, and Urban Design in LEED 2012
Most CNU members know that CNU partnered with the US Green Building Council to produce LEED-ND. But did you know the USGBC also created a new category of credits (Location and Transportation) in all of its other rating systems? And that the USGBC set up a new committee (Location and Planning Technical Advisory Group) to administer and revise those credits?
The LP TAG has been working for the past year to incorporate more of LEED-ND and new urbanism design principles into the rest of LEED. Yesterday, that work was released for public comment as draft LEED rating system proposals, currently scheduled to be implemented in 2012.
Here is a blog post that reviews and explains many of the new or revised planning-related credits.
Location, Transportation, and Urban Design in LEED 2012
By Laurence Aurbach
PedShed Blog, 8 November 2010
http://pedshed.net/?p=632
The draft LEED 2012 rating systems were released for public comment today. The proposals contain new and revised credits that relate to the location, transportation options, and urban design of projects. Here I'll review the changes that are of greatest interest to new urbanism and smart growth advocates.
The following proposals are in the Building Design & Construction document, which includes most of the LEED rating systems. "LT" stands for Location and Transportation, which is a new category within LEED systems.
Please note that "LEED 2012" is my own personal shorthand for these draft proposals. The more accurate and official term is "proposed update to LEED" with no year associated.
LT Prerequisite: Bicycle Storage
LEED has been critiqued for a variety of flaws both real and alleged. But one thing you can always count on is a mention of the bike rack credit. Every critic or reporter has a sworn duty to point out that bike racks can earn a LEED credit point. Installing bike racks is cheap and easy compared to (for instance) making buildings more energy efficient, and may be worth the same number of credit points. This has consistently been presented as an example of LEED illogic.
Worry no longer! Installing bike racks is now a prerequisite for all LEED projects, except for those in totally unbikeable locations. The racks have to be safe and convenient - no stashing behind garbage dumpsters. Residential projects provide additional bike storage for their residents.
This prerequisite is both functional and symbolic, providing a visible signal that transportation mode choice is an essential aspect of LEED. Also, creating a bicycle storage prerequisite allows the bar to be raised for performance in the "Bicycle Network, Storage and Changing Rooms" credit.
Continued at http://pedshed.net/?p=632
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