'Green Development?' only if the planning is right.

In the US, certification of buildings as energy efficient has been a huge success, particularly since LEED (Leadership in Energy Efficient Design) developed a standard that could be built
to and shown off.

Now that builders and architects are familiar with the requirements of LEED it has become a standard offering, particularly for high quality space: people are at last putting a premium on well designed comfortable and healthy space.

This trends is great news, and as it spreads further into the building sector as a whole, and internationally it looks set to make a significant impact on carbon emissions.

However, there is one further step to green building. Namely, accepting the fact that a green building miles from work is not truly green. Site has to be considered. Compact urban development is the most sustainable form of growth. Enter LEED New Development
(LEED-ND).

"Just as other LEED systems have improved building efficiency and energy performance, LEED-ND will reward efficient use of land and the building of complete and walkable communities,"

said John Norquist, President and CEO of the Congress for the New Urbanism.

"It is helping to reinforce a more complete understanding of sustainability that extends all the way from the individual building to the neighborhood and community."

Relevant Links:

• LEED-ND Report (describes the features for a sustainable building development).
  
• Comments on the draft report where taken: a summary response is available, this gives a superb short overview of the key tensions in the LEED-ND concept.
  
• USGBC: the home of LEED-ND
• Health and LEED-ND: Illustrates the health benefits of sustainable communities.

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