How To Get LEED Certified

Becoming LEED certified has become crucial for many commercial and residential developers as they look to attract customers with sustainable practices and materials. An acronym for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, LEED is the Green Building Rating System developed by the U.S. Green Building Council to encourage environmental awareness amongst government agencies, architects, engineers, developers, and builders.

Evergreen Recycling, a provider of recycling services in Las Vegas has been helping businesses in Nevada to achieve their certification by providing recycling services for construction materials, which accounts for a large percentage of points.

Case in point – CityCenter, the largest new development on the Strip. With over 16,797,000 square feet (1,560,500 m2), the recently opened hotel and entertainment hub has become one of the largest LEED certified projects in the world. The project included some of the world’s largest firms: Pelli Clarke Pelli, Kohn Pedersen Fox, Helmut Jahn, RV Architecture LLC led by Rafael Viñoly, Foster + Partners, Studio Daniel Libeskind, David Rockwell and Rockwell Group, and Gensler.

Several buildings within the complex have also obtain individual certifications. The Mandarin Oriental, ARIA Resort’s hotel tower, ARIA’s convention center and theater, Vdara Hotel & Spa, Crystals and Veer towers have received LEED Gold certification.

How do you score points? For each type of project, the organization has developed a set of guidelines aimed at impoving performance across all the metrics that matter most: energy savings, water efficiency, CO2 emissions reduction, improved indoor environmental quality, and stewardship of resources and sensitivity to their impacts.

For commercial interiors, for example, the total number of points (100) is comprised of 21 for sustainable sites, 11 for water efficiency, 37 for energy and atmosphere, 14 for materials and resources, and 17 for indoor environmental quality. A project that earns 40 points will be qualified as “certified,” 50 – “silver,” 60 – “gold,” and 80 – “platinum.”

Evergreen can helpful in earning those points. Its team of experts can help customers evaluate and develop construction waste management plans outlining construction recycling programs and specifications required by LEED. It also offers custom recycling programs for tenants and/or property managers once a building or office park is occupied. Evergreen also provides the necessary documentation quantifying recycling success to achieve LEED certifications and offers professional consulting services for a successful certification.