congrats....how is structures?

what did you take first?

Thanks! Er, are you talking about the ARE? Because I haven't even started that beastly thing yet, it scares the shite out of me quite frankly.

I went ahead and did LEED though because I thought it would help train me to think of whole building design from the get-go, and I think it has. Now if I could only get my hands on a client willing to build a green building I'll be set!

So how'd it go? I'm going to be taking it later this summer, once I review the reference materials. If I ever get a copy...

Does anyone have a set I can borrow instead of shelling out the $400??

driftwood, PM me and I'll see what I can do.

It went OK, but the one thing that I didn't do that I should have done was memorize the names of the referenced standards. i.e., if the book says that for EQc4.1: Adhesives and Sealants, you need to adhere to the current VOC content limits of South Coast Air Quality Management District (SCAQMD) Rule #1168 (which it does), then you need to know that whole stinking title. It's a bunch of letters and numbers that my brain barely has room for.

But I passed so who cares at this point.

*doh*

i saw passed and exam and never saw LEED

congrats. can we talk about movies and music now?

Actually, I was thinking the other day that it's a shame there hasn't been a major theatrical release about LEED...

great! now you can play silly pojnt games with the LEED scorecard and try to wrangle points by greenwashing.

Suture is right - it would be better if there was no metric for evaluating green projects and we could simply go back to the old way where if you declared your project sustainable, it was.

having sat on the various committees to improve / change to the new leed, can clearly say that leed [oh!! i mean LEED!!] is a promotional device by manufactures to put out there what is 'not enviromentally good ' products out on the table and to market them as GREEN. does anyone truely believe interface carpet being 100% petroleum, with off-gasing for 10 years and is a collection system for dust mites and chemicals when cleans ---- is a sustainable material????????????????


worth a point torwards the gold standard!!!

yes, it does educate archs / owners but just as any ;model code' is chock full of various special interest/lobbying groups --- buyer beware!

You are so right...

Thanks for saving me $400!

TED, I looked up the Interface product and I think it is important to clarify that it doesn't deliver a point at all - if you use a low emitting adhesive for the carpet install (in addition to using low emitting adhesives everywhere else in the building) you are eligible for one point. Is that such a bad thing, which contributes nothing to sustainability which is what you seem to be suggesting?

I agree that there are some minor problems with the system, but by in large it absolutely does promote sustainable building.

The thing about Interface is I'm hesistant to criticize them....I've seen their CEO speak (anyone else seen "The Corporation"?) and he exudes a lot of passion about environmental causes. I dare say without people like him the carpet industry wouldn't be pursueing sustainable practices like they are today.

I think that it's easy to sit around and criticize but we're not the ones manufacturing the carpet. I think that our job as designers is to specify carpets like Interface that are at least trying, in order to set an example for the rest of the industry. Sticking to our green principles will encourage everyone else to jump on the bandwagon, and within that framework it will be much more effective when we start to bitch about how we're not really doing enough.

Remember, corporations are sociopaths and we (largely) are not. We've got to be crafty with these people.

you all are forgetting to put the R with the circle after "LEED" it's a registered trademark afterall.

for shame!

i thought the corporations were psychopaths. have to drive forty miles to work now. bye