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Some basic terms

So, the first thing you should know. Is technically I'm not a complete laywoman. As you learned from my previous post I have spent all of my undergraduate career studying the 'Green Design' Stuff.
There are tons of certification processes and awards just within the United States, but one of the most widely accepted and used is the LEED Certification Process with the United States Green Building Council (USGBC).

LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. It is a point system, where you earn a credit for every determined area (for example" Sustainable Sites, Water Efficiency, and Material and Resources are categories of points). For more information and resources regarding the LEED process and USGBC's various projects, visit their site at:
www.usgbc.org


One of my responsibilities as Sustainability Intern will be to earn my LEED Accredited Professional certificate, because although I have had a bunch of experience with LEED projects throughout, I have not yet learned the nitty-gritty of the certification process. I will also be assigning all of the Project team members their particular point responsibilities. For example, our Civil Engineer will need to provide documentation that we have had a Phase I EPA-approved Site Survey. (Thank goodness that's not me!)

With the current building design, we will earn LEED Platinum Certification within LEED version 3- LEED 2009 for Schools. We estimate that we will get at least 98 of the 110 possible points for this particular program- which may even be a new record!

But the School has already earned LEED certifications for all of their separate campus buildings. The School began asking themselves, "How can we take it to the next level?"- Enter: The Living Building Challenge

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