November/December 2005 Special Issue: LEED®

Featured Articles
Sustainable Design – The Right Thing to Do
By Prescott D. (Scott) May, AIA, LEED-AP
A commitment to sustainable design is an investment for the future that has tangible results for today. The USGBC defines sustainability as “meeting the needs of today without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs.” For architects, sustainable design is a logical moral extension of the charge to protect the health, safety, and welfare of building occupants. For builders, sustainable designs can hedge their ability to construct in the future by conserving building materials to be used on other projects, and hence affect the ultimate cost of their trade. 
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Specify “Green” and Realize Big Life-Cycle Savings with Cool Roofing
By Drew Ballensky
Rising energy costs and recent regulations – such as California’s Title 24 Building Code and Section 303 of the Chicago Energy Code – have made cool roofing a white-hot topic again among architects, specifying contractors, building owners, and government officials responsible for building codes and the environment. In fact, cool roofing is considered by many scientists and government officials to be an effective means of addressing critical national energy efficiency and environmental challenges.
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Proper Soil Selection For Garden Roofs: A Primer
By Steve Skinner
Green roofs have become increasingly popular over the past several years due to their ability to provide a wide range of sustainability, energy and ecological benefits while often enhancing the aesthetic qualities and architectural creativity of buildings.
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Past, Present and Future Converge to Ride the Rapids at Transit Facility
For centuries, the west Michigan river rapids slowed the salmon for the spears of the Ottawa tribe. They marked the site of Ottawa villages, where beaver, mink, marten and muskrat were trapped for the fur trade and transported by canoes that traversed the state’s longest river. They helped speed the progress of a city bearing their name. Then, slowed and finally stopped by that same progress, the grand rapids disappeared, existing only in name.
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The Cost of Leed Certification
What budget advice can estimators provide to their Clients for going green?
By Joseph J. Perryman MRICS MAPM
As more and more published articles appear that proudly state Projects have achieved LEED® certification, whether they be in newspapers or magazines, more and more Clients are asking their Design Team or Contractor, “Can we afford LEED certification for our Project?” What is the correct advice to give Clients?
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