Lies, Damn Lies, and… Henry Gifford critical of LEED study
Henry Gifford, a maverick NYC mechanical systems designer, has written a highly critical objection to the first broad study done by the US Green Building Coucil (USGBC). The study intended to determine how much energy LEED rated buildings actually used.
USGBC commissioned the New Buildings Institute (NBI) of Vancouver, Washington, to conduct the study, Energy Performance of LEED for New Construction Buildings, which claimed that “On average, LEED buildings are 25-30% more efficient than non-LEED buildings.”
Gifford has presented a different analysis, critical of the USGBC / NBI study. Gifford suggests that in reality the LEED rated buildings are, on average, 29% less efficient than average U.S. buildings. If you haven’t seen Gifford’s presentation, it’s worth a watch (youtube clip below). The full critique, “A Better Way to Rate Green Buildings“, is also available on his website, along with the US Green Building Council’s response to Gifford’s criticique in an e-mail that USGBC sent to its chapter leaders, and Gifford’s rebuttal to the USGBC response.
Gifford points out a few flaws in the study…
College Sustainability Report Card: Green Buildings
College Sustainability Report Card provides in-depth sustainability profiles for hundreds of colleges in all 50 U.S. States and Canada. See the results. There are several categories of sustainability used in their report card. The Green Building category 51 schools earned “A” grades in the green building category, which looks at schools’ adoption and use of high-performance green building design. Most of them have numerous LEED certified buildings on campus. The average grade for the green building category was “C+.”
Click on the green building leaders listed below to view report cards.
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NYMEX: Light, Sweet Crude Oil (CL)
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NYMEX: Natural Gas (NG)
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NYMEX: Heating Oil (HO)
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EIA: Retail Prices
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Bloomberg: Wind Energy Index
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MAC: Global Solar Energy Index