Most people have heard of the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System by now, but they may not know much about LEED or how it works. This report explains how the LEED process works and provides information that can be used by architects, facilities engineers, contracting officers, and line officers to assure that their LEED projects serve their needs and are cost effective.

LEED was developed by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) to encourage adoption of sustainable building and development practices through generally understood and accepted performance criteria. LEED rating systems are available for new construction, existing building operation and maintenance, commercial interiors, core and shell construction, schools, retail spaces, healthcare facilities, homes, and neighborhood developments.

LEED certification has been mandatory for some new Forest Service buildings since 2005, when an interim directive was issued that required LEED Silver certification for new Forest Service district offices, supervisor's offices, visitor centers, research facilities, and climate-controlled warehouses 2,500 gross square feet or larger. On November 26, 2008, a new section of Forest Service Handbook 7309.11 became effective. The new chapter 70–Sustainable Buildings (http://www.fs.fed.us/im/directives/fsh/7309.11/7309.11_70.doc) mandates that all new or renovated buildings that are "energy intense" (such as tree coolers) or larger than 2,500 square feet

• Must be designed using integrated design principles to optimize energy efficiency and use of renewable energy, protect and conserve water, enhance indoor environmental quality, and reduce environmental impacts of materials
  
  
• Must comply with the USDA's Sustainable Building Implementation Plan and metering requirements (http://www.usda.gov/energyandenvironment/facilities/sbip.htm)

New offices, visitor centers, and research labs 10,000 gross square feet or larger also must achieve LEED Silver certification. Achieving LEED Silver certification proves that Forest Service buildings meet generally accepted standards of sustainability. The USDA Sustainable Buildings Implementation Plan also requires that preference be given to buildings meeting those standards when the Forest Service is acquiring leased space.

Designing buildings that are sustainable (figure 1) is the right thing to do. Well-designed sustainable buildings increase employee productivity, enhance occupant comfort and health, reduce the impacts of natural resource consumption, lower costs of facilities in the long term, and minimize the strain on local infrastructure from growth and development.

Figure 1—The Shoal Creek Ranger District office in Heflin, AL
(National Forests in Alabama, Southern Region), was built in 2005
to LEED standards. It was built mainly with local materials,
including siding from southern Alabama cypress trees and rock
from a quarry in northern Alabama. Other sustainable features
include occupancy-sensing light switches, permeable concrete
pavement in the parking lot, and a ground source heat pump
that provides energy-efficient heating and cooling.

Buildings have a big impact on people and the environment. Statistics from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's 2004 report "Buildings and the Environment: A Statistical Summary" (http://www.epa.gov/greenbuilding/pubs/gbstats.pdf) show that

• On average, Americans spend about 90 percent of their time indoors. Levels of pollutants indoors may be two to five times higher, and occasionally more than 100 times higher, than levels outdoors.
  
  
• Buildings account for 39.4 percent of total energy consumption in the United States.
  
  
• Buildings in the United States contribute 38.1 percent of the nation's total carbon dioxide emissions.
  
  
• Building occupants use 12.2 percent of the total water consumed in the United States.
  
  
• Building-related construction and demolition debris accounts for nearly 60 percent of the nonindustrial waste generation in the United States.

More information about sustainability in buildings is available in the "Sustainability" section of the "Facilities Toolbox" at http://www.fs.fed.us/eng/toolbox/sus/.

Five Forest Service-owned buildings have already earned LEED Silver certification. Twenty-six more Forest Service buildings are in the process of becoming LEED certified, such as research stations, the Forest Products Lab, and the International Institute of Tropical Forestry (figure 2). The Rocky Mountain Region is working to certify its standard bunkhouse plan under the LEED for Homes rating system. Units that don't have a LEED project now will likely join the crowd within the next few years.

Figure 2—Ongoing renovation of the 1942 Spanish Revival
headquarters building for the International Institute of
Tropical Forestry in Río Piedras, Puerto Rico, will result in
a water- and energy-efficient LEED-certified building.
The building is the best-known work of Forest Service architect
W. Ellis Groben and is eligible for listing in the National
Register of Historic Places. The Puerto Rico State Historic
Preservation Office carefully reviewed the renovation plans
and approved them because of the care that is being taken
to preserve and restore significant historic features.

The Forest Service is a member of the USGBC. Forest Service employees have access to all member benefits, including the members-only sections of the USGBC Web site and discounts on training and publications. Forest Service employees can learn how to create individual user accounts for easy access to these members-only benefits at http://fsweb.wo.fs.fed.us/eng/programs/facilities/sus_green/usgbc.htm.