[Bldg-rate] Costing Green

[Vern Woodworth]

> Jason:
> I am a member of the AIA Board of Directors' Sustainability  
> Discussion Group (SDiG) and was a co-author of the AIA's study  
> "Quantifying Sustainability", a comparative analysis of three rating  
> systems' performance with regard to the AIA Position Statements on  
> sustainability.  I would like to start this off by asking for  
> feedback regarding the Davis Langdon 2004 (and follow-up 2006)  
> study, "Costing Green".  This study appears to say several important  
> things:
> 1) It doesn't necessarily cost more to go green (or, to get LEED  
> certified)
> 2) Projects are not looking for ways to go beyond minimum  
> requirements, whether local green ordinances or the minimum (and  
> least costly) way to get LEED certified.
> Has anyone looked more closely at this study?  While masquerading as  
> good news is this really telling us that LEED has diverted the  
> mainstreaming of Green by providing a placebo?
> Looking forward to some lively discussion, and thanks for starting  
> this list.
> A. Vernon Woodworth AIA
> Chair BSA Codes Committee
> Instructor, Boston Architectural College
> Associate, Sullivan Code Group
>