LEED Consulting

LEED is the acronym for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. LEED is a voluntary program orchestrated by the US Green Building Council (USGBC) in 1998 for the promotion of sustainable design strategies towards greater environmental health and energy conservation in buildings. The program has since gained popularity in many countries around the world with many building owners gaining interest in LEED certifications.

Nearby Engineers New York Engineers remain the advocate of LEED consulting and akin services such as building commissioning and retro commissioning. We’ve been providing LEED consulting services for many years now and our consultants are revered for their expertise and experience in this program.

Amongst others, LEED addresses environmental impacts of buildings, energy consumption and conservation, indoor air quality, stormwater management, recycling, maintenance and operating services, asbestos, water usage and conservation, sewage management, and alternative transportation. For a building to gain the certification, it has to meet one of the ratings clearly stipulated on the website. Our engineers are well-rounded with the rating system and so outsourcing LEED services from us is an added advantage. We will ensure that you acquire the certification as quickly as possible.

If the building meets the criteria set, it will be awarded one of 4 certification levels globally: certified, silver, gold or platinum. The rating criteria also differ. For instance, you may have LEED for new construction or neighborhood development or for existing buildings. Each rating level requires certain prerequisites and we can help you achieve that.

Acquiring and complying with LEED certifications brings lots of benefits for building owners. Not only will owners play a significant role in caring for the environment but they will also save massively in their energy consumptions. All thanks to the unparalleled sustainable design strategies we incorporate in your buildings in a quest to obtain LEED and optimize the overall performance. Going green reduces your carbon footprint because buildings, especially large buildings are notorious contributors to greenhouse gases.

LEED certification is issued by the United States Green Building Council after documentations are submitted online for review. These documents must detail the design and construction phase and all other elements needed as a prerequisite before the certification is offered. Existing buildings, for example, need retro commissioning to be considered for LEED certification. Check our services in retro commissioning as well. Our engineers are multi-talented in a spectrum of building services and sustainable design strategies.

As LEED consultants, we do not, however, focus only on LEED certification but the overall performance of the building even after LEED certification has been obtained. That’s imperative because LEED certification scope may be limited beyond your design intent as it focuses more on Green Building standards.

We focus more on integrated systems thinking, building lifecycle analysis, technological advancements, and energy modeling, amongst others. Buildings play a huge role in greenhouse emissions and ultimately global warming, and so sustainable design practices are encouraged all over the world. Even more to that, buildings influence climate change and human health. Green Building standards can help play a significant role in improving the quality of life for your tenants and reduce the enormous costs of design, operations, and maintenance.

For you to achieve LEED certification if that is your main focus, you need to ensure that your building, from the design to construction and to operations, meets criteria set out by USGBC. LEED certification for new buildings starts from the design phase to the completion of the project. Without technical advice and analysis, it may be hard to implement the sustainable design strategies required by this certification in new buildings. Thus you need a third party involvement.

LEED consulting services will help you achieve the certification as per the rating system. In fact, if you apply for LEED certification with an accredited consultant, you get a point from USGBC. That is an advantage to select professionals to pursue green building standards.

Nearby Engineers New York Engineers is a third party LEED consulting firm catering for all types of buildings and all sorts of LEED rating points. As we highlighted above, there are different types of certifications: for new constructions, existing buildings, neighborhood development, etc.

Incorporating green building standards can be cumbersome or burdensome if you have never dealt with that before. We are extensively experienced in this field and thus assure you great results. The process seems bewildering and financially burdening, but with a careful consulting firm that optimizes the process you can achieve the certification quickly and affordable.

In order to obtain other certifications, you need to meet some prerequisites such as retro commissioning of HVAC systems, energy audit, recycling, and water conservation strategies. This is true for existing buildings in order to be eligible for LEED certification. If you do physical improvements in your existing building, for example, you can earn extra points. This also holds true when you implement good building operation practices that promote green building or conform to the set green building standards. We can help you achieve all these ambitions.

For your new building, you need to incorporate good building operations from the design phase which will be evident in the systems designed. You will need to upload a bunch of documents on the USGBC website for verification purposes in order to be processed for LEED certification. With the best LEED consultant that can be done on your behalf because the process can be time-consuming to a large extent if you are inexperienced in the process. Our engineers possess unrivaled interpersonal and team building skills to coordinate with various stakeholders in your building projects to achieve green building standards eligible for certification.

There are various types of LEED rating systems you need to be aware of. Either way, with us you need not worry because our engineers are well-equipped with all these systems.

We can therefore do everything on your behalf. The 4 rating systems include:

• LEED® for Building Operations and Maintenance (LEED® O+M)
• LEED® for Neighborhood Development (LEED® ND)
• LEED® for Building Design and Construction (LEED® BD+C)
• LEED® for Interior Design and Construction (LEED® ID+C)

These 4 categories of rating systems are self-explanatory and clearly descriptive of what they include in the scope. We are well-versed with all these criteria and therefore assure you a smooth and cost-effective process of transforming your building into the requirements set.

Our LEED consulting services spot and incorporate viable sustainable design strategies into your projects to improve the overall performance beyond LEED certification. When finding the best consultant, look for someone who will be with you beyond the certification process. On that note, our main focus is to improve the overall performance, reduce energy costs, reduce operating and maintenance costs, and improve tenant health while also promoting green building awareness. To achieve this, we bring all important stakeholders and team members into the planning and the designing process of your project. This sets a framework upon which we can integrate viable sustainable design strategies.

Basically, LEED scope encompasses designing, constructing and maintenance of buildings in a quest to promote green building for energy consumption and environmental health awareness.

Performance priorities include the following:

• Energy conservation and usage
• Water conservation and consumption
• Sustainable sites
• Environmental awareness and education
• Locations and linkages
• Building innovation and sustainable design
• Indoor air quality

This list is not all-inclusive. LEED certification has a broad scope that needs professional engineers to decipher and implement. In a nutshell, the certification considers how buildings and their systems are designed, constructed and maintained while integrating sustainable design strategies with good practices.

LEED certification brings lots of benefits to homeowners. Some of these benefits include the following:

• Improved workers productivity
• Reduced environmental impact
• Reduced costs and enhanced energy conservation
• Increased tenant satisfaction
• Lower operational and maintenance costs
• Improved building performance
• Increased asset value
• Increased occupancy rates
• Increase building value
• Reduced insurance premiums

Who would overlook the aforementioned benefits of LEED? Of course no one! LEED certification is a must-have for all the buildings in Chicago and beyond. We can help you realize these benefits to save substantially.

A commercial building that houses workers may enhance productivity if it is armed with sustainable design strategies that improve the interior air quality while also reducing energy costs. That said, the business owner may incur minimal costs of HVAC systems while also receiving fewer to no complaints about a deteriorated state of air quality.

Now that you know the spectrum of LEED benefits, it is time you familiarize yourself with the benefits of having a LEED consultant. The green building council has measures to accredit LEED consultants so as to help building owners to choose wisely. In the absence of the accreditation, anyone would or could present him/herself as a LEED consultant.

Upon hiring us, you entrust us with this complex process of getting your building LEED certified. The consultant does not provide the certification but acts as the third party that gives technical expertise about your building. LEED requires technological and technical improvements in new and existing buildings. To achieve that, you need a well-rounded consultant knowledgeable about green building standards.

Submitting the documentation on USGBC for verification and assessment is a complex process too. Doing that alone may feel so heavily burdensome especially if you are never experienced. With the best LEED consulting firm everything can be well set in a short period of time.

There are different types of certifications. The consultant can help you to rechannel the house to the right certification that you are aiming for. Furthermore, the right consultant can help you to meet the prerequisites needed to achieve a certain certification. In that regard, you need someone well-versed with all sorts of building commissioning: enhanced, fundamental, ongoing and retro commissioning, as well as understanding energy remodeling and other optimization efforts of building systems.