LEED at Maryland

What is LEED Certification?

LEED stands for Leaders in Energy and Environmental Design. It is a certification system by which extremely Green buildings can be rated and recognized. Points are awarded for different categories, all of which play a part on a building's environmental impact. The number of points received by a building determine its level of certification

• Certified:  40-49 points
• Silver:      50-59 points
• Gold:       60-79 points
• Platinum: 80+ points

Individual requirements can be found on this spreadsheet, detailing the 

LEED 2009 Checklist for New Construction. 

 

New LEED Construction

An initiative recently introduced by the former Vice President for Administrative Affairs, Doug Duncan, is for UMD to adopt a Silver LEED Certification standard for all new construction and major renovations. So far, UMD has actually surpassed this goal, with many new buildings being constructed to LEED Gold Certification.

Some examples of new construction to LEED Certification are: 
Knight Hall 
Oakland Hall  
Commons 7  
The Physical Sciences Complex (under construction now)

Commons 7 - [1]

Oakland Hall - [2]

Knight Hall

The new journalism building next to Lot Z is the perfect example of new LEED Construction on campus. Knight Hall was just built in 2010 and has many state-of-the-art features that fall in the different point categories. They are:

Knight Hall Landscape - [3]

Sustainable Site – 26 possible points

This category is all about location. Does the site have access to alternative transportation, like buses or bikes? Does it minimally impact the local environment?

In the case of Knight Hall, it does all of these things. Buses circulate around campus, and it has a large number of bike racks out front. The surrounding green space uses local plants that thrive without much maintenance.

Water Efficiency – 10 possible points

           This category is simply reduction of water consumption within the building and on the surrounding landscape (for watering plants/flowers).

           Knight Hall uses low-flow toilets and faucets in all of its bathrooms. This amounts to a 40% reduction in water use. All water for landscaping is provided by a 10000-gallon cistern which collects rain water.

Energy and Atmosphere – 35 possible points

This category grants most of its points for optimizing energy performance. However, it also has several for generating renewable energy on site, or showing that the site gets its power from a green source.

Knight Hall uses Energy Star devices. It also reduces on air conditioning with specialty glass that reduces solar heat in the summer.

Materials and Resources – 14 possible points

Knight Hall Front Facade - [4]

This category allocates points for using local or renewable construction materials, recycling any waste from construction, and for providing a means to further recycle materials throughout the buildings life.

Knight Hall fulfills all these categories. Nearly 100% of waste from construction was recycled in some way. 31% of materials were obtained locally, reducing the cost and energy spent in transportation to the build site. In addition, 34% of building material was already recycled.

The Great Hall - [5]

           Indoor Environmental Quality – 15 possible points

This category affects users of the building the most. It awards points for the comfort and quality of the spaces people inhabit.

Knight Hall makes great achievements in this category as well. Almost all spaces in the building can be naturally lit. The Great Hall in particular has an entirely glass wall, lighting the space for almost all the daylight hours. The building also makes use cleaning products which meet the Green Seal standard for institutional cleaners. These contribute to a healthier indoor air quality.

Innovation and Design Process – 6 possible points

This bonus category provides points for any exceptionally innovative elements that are not specifically covered elsewhere.

An example in Knight Hall is the set of massive blinds that automatically descend from the ceiling to reduce glare and aid the air conditioning in the summer.

Regional Priority Credits – 4 possible points

This second bonus category allows for extra points for regional issues. For example, a building in Arizona would receive extra points for water conservation, as that is a much more pressing concern there.

                

The full list and description of requirements for New LEED Construction can be found here.

Renovation

The second initiative we would like to inform you about is the renovation of existing buildings on the UMD campus in order to meet LEED certification standards. Since the emphasis on sustainability is a relatively new concept, only in the past couple years have we been able to design and build according to its recommendations. Almost all buildings on campus were constructed long before these ideas were considered a priority. It would be wildly impractical to completely replace buildings one by one until our entire campus has achieved LEED Gold status. Therefore we must make the most with what we have.

Carbon Footprint [6]

The simple nature of operations at a large university leads to many inefficiencies. The massive influx of students at peak hours means we need a lot of classrooms and a lot of buildings. However for the majority of the day, these buildings lay mostly dormant and underutilized. Each building has its own heating, air conditioning, electrical and water needs. In order to facilitate thousands of students, these needs are extremely large for the campus as a whole. It all adds up to a very large carbon footprint as shown in the graph of greenhouse gas emissions.  In order to combat this problem, many small steps must be taken to slowly fix the drain. While it will not make our campus sustainable overnight, renovation projects can have a significant impact on making campus buildings more efficient.

Lighting Options [7]

Lighting

A perfect example of projects currently underway that are having a direct effect on the campus’ sustainability is the replacement of light fixtures. An observation of lighting inside buildings will make it apparent that lights often remain on even when they are not needed. While this may be due to late night studies or simple neglect, the drain of electricity is unfortunate. This is why the campus has launched the Hallway Lighting Project (Report 2010). Twenty four buildings have already had their hallway lights retrofitted. Another twenty four buildings have been surveyed and are eligible for the same upgrades. Qualification involves the ability to replace the existing T8 lights with the newer, more efficient T5 models.  The project also involves increasing the spacing between lights in hallways while maintaining a brightness standard. This reduces the amount of needed lights, thus reducing electrical usage. Another aspect is automating the new fixtures. Lights can now be placed on dimmers, timers, or sensors. This is all in an effort to make sure lights are only on when they are needed. Public hallways are the main target at the moment, but the idea can also be expanded to offices and classrooms as well. 

Water

Dual Flush [8]

While water seems like such an abundant, renewable resource, careless consumption can be harmful to the environment and is not sustainable. Therefore another widespread renovation is the replacement of current fixtures with water conserving facilities (Report 2010). Again, thousands of students on campus each day equates to many flushed toilets and frequently used faucets. Also, multilevel dormitories house thousands of students who depend on these facilities in addition to showers on a twenty-four hour basis. New low-flow sinks and shower heads reduce the amount of water that can be accessed at a time, thus making sure only a necessary amount of water is used. New toilets have two flush settings in order to cater to the need that is required. Reducing excess water consumption is just one more way to work towards campus sustainability.

Stamp Green Roof [9]

Green Roofs

A final popular renovation is the installation of green roofs or rooftop gardens. In an urban environment such as UMD, open space is a precious commodity. Roads, sidewalks and buildings leave little room for natural land. However, most rooftops are open, flat areas that are seldom used. This renovation seeks to make the best of these two misfortunes (“Green Roofs”). Garden boxes are made then placed on roofs and maintained from there. This provides the perfect location amidst a busy city to grow flowers or produce.  The harvest can then be consumed by the owner or distributed to local markets. This sort of agriculture, though on a much smaller scale, is much more sustainable than shipping in food from all across the country. While producing food is a major bonus, the rooftop gardens also serve a purpose similar to that of green roofs. Besides wasting space, urban rooftops also collect a lot of unwanted heat in the summer time. If the sun beats down on the roof all day, this could conduct through to the inside and counteract any building cooling systems. The green roof seeks to mitigate this effect (“Green Roofs”). By resurfacing the roof and planting high water retention plants, the shade and stored water helps to reduce heat transfer to the inside of the building. Either of these options makes a building more efficient and therefore more sustainable.

Building Renovations

A couple specific buildings on campus have received major renovations that may include several of these sustainable projects. For example Denton Dining Hall just recently reopened (“Green Buildings”).  It was retrofit with more efficient lighting as well as being topped off with a new green roof. Another sustainable aspect employed during renovation was the reuse of building supplies. Instead of depleting resources by ordering all materials brand new, anything that was not destroyed during demolition was used during the reconstruction phase. Stamp Student Union is another recently renovated sustainability example (Report 2010). Green roofs were installed over the Atrium and the Prince George’s room.  Water conserving facilities replaced the old fixtures in order to better allocate resources for the heavily used building. Also, environmental friendly paints and carpeting were used in the renovated areas.

Challenges

Denton Renovations [10]

While the pursuit of sustainability seems vastly beneficial and worthwhile, there are still a few set-backs that make it wholly unobtainable. A large obstacle is money. Most of these sustainable projects are investments in the future rather than immediate sources of income. Higher efficiency usually means more economical, but these savings may be spread out over a long time period. So while new light fixtures may pay for themselves over their lifetime, the initial upfront cost to install them remains an issue. In order to assist with this problem, local governments are beginning to mediate between energy companies and consumers. For example the state of Maryland has organized a group of energy companies that provide a unique contract for prospective sustainable projects (Report 2010). Under these contracts, the companies calculate projected savings. A payment plan is then created that only draws from the savings produced over time. The State makes sure the projected savings are met and that the consumer pays their part. This boosts incentive for sustainability endeavors since the consumer pays nothing initially.

Cole PV Cells [11]

There are several more specific examples of challenges while going green at UMD . Denton Dining Hall was originally constructed in 1962 (“Green Buildings”). Building code was a lot different back then and, as renovation crews soon found out, the lower ceiling did not comply with the intended, newer light fixtures. Therefore the contractor had to work closely with the builders, electricians, and LEED representatives in order to complete the install (“Denton”). Another example of sustainability projects not going as planned is the solar panels on Cole Field House.  Solar panels seem like an obvious choice for helping the environment and harnessing renewable energy. Unfortunately, it turns out that solar panels are not as beneficial as some of the other renovations (“FAQ”). It takes many more years for the panels to pay for themselves compared to lighting fixtures or low flow faucets. However there is considerable research being done to overcome this disadvantage in hopes of making solar panels a much more viable option in the future.

Regardless of the challenges, UMD continues to use the renovation of existing buildings as a means of making this campus more sustainable. This goal can be achieved through several different projects such as more efficient lighting fixtures, water conservation facilities, and green roofs. So far major renovations have taken place in Denton Dining Hall and the Stamp Student Union. Smaller scale projects like the ones mentioned above have taken place in dozens of university buildings. This has all been in an effort to reduce our school’s carbon footprint and become more self-sufficient as a campus community.

Footnotes

1 - Commons 7. Digital image. Sustainability at the University of Maryland. University of Maryland, 2010. Web. 9 May 2012. <http://www.sustainability.umd.edu/content/campus/green_buildings.php>.

2 - Oakland Hall. Digital image. Wfteng.com. WFT Engineering Inc, 2010. Web. 9 May 2012. <http://www.wfteng.com/project-edu-oak.htm>.

3 - Knight Hall Landscape. Digital image. Sustainability at the University of Maryland. University of Maryland, 2010. Web. 9 May 2012. <http://www.sustainability.umd.edu/content/campus/green_buildings.php>.

4 - Knight Hall. Digital image. Umd.edu. University of Maryland, 2012. Web. 9 May 2012. <http://www.umd.edu/CampusMaps/bld_detail.cfm?bld_code=KNI>.

5 - Great Hall. Digital image. Stevejohnsonmedia.com. 2011. Web. 9 May 2012. <http://www.stevejohnsonmedia.com/blog/2011/3/11/umd-journalism.html>.

6 - Dunne, Lindsay, Mark Stewart, Heather Lair, and Scott Lupin. Campus Sustainability Report 2010. Rep. Campus Sustainability at the University of Maryland. Office of Sustainability. Web. 01 May 2012. <http://sustainability.umd.edu/documents/2010_Campus_Sustainability_Report.pdf>.

7 - "Aquarium Lighting." Aquarium-vissen.NL. Web. 03 May 2012. <http://www.aquarium-vissen.nl/aquarium-verlichting.html>.

8 - Dunne, Lindsay, Mark Stewart, Heather Lair, and Scott Lupin. Campus Sustainability Report 2010. Rep. Campus Sustainability at the University of Maryland. Office of Sustainability. Web. 01 May 2012. <http://sustainability.umd.edu/documents/2010_Campus_Sustainability_Report.pdf>.

9 - "Green Buildings." Campus Sustainability at the University of Maryland. Web. 01 May 2012. <http://sustainability.umd.edu/content/campus/green_buildings.php>.

10 - "Denton Dining Hall Renovation." VarcoMac. Web. 01 May 2012. <http://www.varcomac.com/index.php?Itemid=181>.

11 - "Solar Electric Photovoltaics (PV) Commercial Solutions." Solar Water Heaters. Web. 05 May 2012. <http://www.solarsaves.net/Commercial-Solutions/solar-electric-photovoltaics-pv-commercial.html>.