by Brianna Crandall — July 11, 2012—The American Chemistry Council (ACC) spoke out at a U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) listening session on June 25 about what ACC calls GSA’s “fatally flawed” review of green building rating systems for federal government use. ACC has voiced concerns about the “monopoly” and federal government endorsement GSA has provided to the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) LEED system.
Under the Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA), GSA is required to evaluate green building certification systems every five years to identify a system “deem(ed) to be most likely to encourage a comprehensive and environmentally sound approach to certification of green buildings.” The last review, conducted in 2007, resulted in GSA using LEED as the exclusive green building standard system of the federal government.
For 2012, GSA commissioned Pacific Northwest National Laboratory to prepare the Green Building Certification System Review, and the June 25 listening session was held to gather input from the public and key stakeholders, such as the manufacturers of energy-efficient building products.
Speaking on behalf of ACC, Managing Director of Plastic Markets Keith Christman said the GSA report only offers a “cursory” examination of the green building rating systems it reviews, including the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED program and the International Living Building Institute’s Living Building Challenge (LBC), and that neither program actually operates in a manner that meets the consensus requirements necessary under EISA.
“No one green building system meets all the federal requirements outlined in EISA. There is no basis for the continued monopoly for LEED within the federal government. GSA should expand its review to consider recommending any consensus standard that meets EISA, including ASHRAE 189.1 and the International Green Construction Code,” said Christman.
Christman pointed out that the GSA review focuses on LEED 2009, not the current LEED v4 draft under consideration by USGBC, and that GSA should not implement a different version of LEED than the one the agency has reviewed.
ACC has expressed concern about LEED v4 because of what it calls “arbitrary” restrictions of chemical substances essential to many of the very products that contribute to energy efficiency.
