Commercial Green Building Certification

High performance buildings maximize operational energy savings; improve comfort, health, and safety of occupants and visitors; and limit detrimental effects on the environment. This program provides instruction in the new methodologies that form the underpinnings of high performance commercial and municipal buildings. Coverage includes how these practices may be implemented within existing frameworks of municipal capital project administration and facility management.

These Guidelines promote careful study of all stages in project development to ensure the fiscal integrity of the commercial project. They also encourage the formulation of responsible budgets at the planning stage. Further, they help the design team to identify any high performance cost premiums (together with cost savings) and to justify them to the Owner’s satisfaction. This course is valuable to those in Architecture, Project Management, and Engineering who will likely be involved in developing applications for LEED certification for their buildings.

Topics Covered

After completing this course you will be able to:

• Describe Green Building Principles and Practices as they apply to Commercial Buildings
• Recognize how to raise expectations for the facilities performance.
• Implement these improved practices that improve the capital budgeting design and construction practices, thus promoting investments that make economic and environmental sense.
• Implement these improved practices through:
  • Comprehensive pilot high performance building efforts
  • Incremental use of individual high performance strategies on projects of limited scope.
• Create partnerships in the design and construction process around environmental and economic performance goals.
• Save money through reduced energy and material expenditures, waste disposal costs and utility bills.
• Improve the comfort, health, and well being of building occupants and public visitors.
• Design buildings with improved performance that can be operated and maintained within the limits of existing resources.