Event Description

1.5 AIA LU + 1 GBCI CE

How well does LEED address the causes and appropriate responses to climate change? The answer to this question is a critical consideration as organizations and governments decide how to implement programs to achieve their intended goals of reducing their climate related impact. A rating system could easily fall into the trap of overemphasizing elements that don’t have as big of an impact, or they might ignore other elements that are emerging critical areas to address.

This is being presented as a discussion between Subject Matter Expert - Joshua Radoff, LEED Fellow and SVP – Built Ecology, WSP and Geoff Hurst, Vice-President of Sustainability at Related Companies LP, a real estate owner and developer with over $15billion of best-in-class mixed-use, residential, retail and office property.

This discussion will review the broad areas where buildings and the built environment have an impact on GHG emissions and climate change. It will also look at the important steps, technologies, and strategies to reach zero carbon, and review how LEED v4.1 addresses each of these areas. Lastly, it will review the various definitions and recently developed rating systems to certify Net Zero Energy and Carbon. Areas addressed will include:

• Building efficiency, passive design

• Electrification of buildings and transportation

• Embodied carbon from materials and refrigerants

• Strategies for onsite and offsite renewable energy

Learning Objectives

1. Understand the various areas of GHG emissions from the built environment.

2. Understand which LEED credits address these areas of impact.

3. Understand how electrification and time of use energy use impacts GHG emissions.

4. Understand the relative impact of transportation, embodied carbon, and operational energy.