Sustainable Facilities and LEED Certification: A Broadcaster's Guide

Abstract

The design and construction of the Broadcast Facility is evolving. The facility and its supporting spaces are being affected by the growing trend of states and municipalities to integrate sustainable design requirements into building codes. The LEED® (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) rating system developed by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), which rates completed projects at four levels—Certified, Silver, Gold and Platinum—has emerged as the choice standard after over ten years of use. LEED, at its core, is a voluntary process which has evolved into a program increasingly garnished with incentives of all types and is now into its first signs of being prescribed as a code requirement. This paper will present to Broadcasters an introduction to the structure of LEED and its seven primary areas of impact, namely; Site, Water Management, Energy, Materials, Indoor Air Quality, Innovation/Design and Process and Regional Priority. It will also describe how it applies specifically to Broadcasters in its two relevant LEED versions: New Construction and Commercial Interiors. The purpose is to demystify what constitutes sustainable construction by showing the different strategies and options available to achieve points in each category that will lead to a successfully certified project. A facility that takes into account these new requirements smartly will serve the end users in a healthy manner, will be financially justifiable, will be less costly to maintain and operate, and will meet the growing national need for sustainable design.