Building Design Strategies and Their Contribution to Energy Performance for LEED Certification

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a national set of standards put forth by the U. S. Green Building Council in 1994 that was intended to inspire building designers to plan greener, more sustainable buildings. LEED offers up to ten points for improved energy optimization performance. It should be noted that achieving these ten points is time consuming, complex, and expensive. This research is a case study that details the process of using a computer simulation study as a building energy optimizing tool in order to achieve these optional points. Determination is made as to how many LEED points can be obtained when basic strategies such as window performance and day-lighting are integrated into one energy optimized building design. The results show that well-established energy conservation methods achieve as few as two or three LEED energy points, thereby possibly offering a disincentive for designers to attempt this difficult challenge. These fundamental efforts to achieve energy optimized building design are the first steps toward high performance building design and offer a fundamental solution to the substantial, negative environmental impacts caused by buildings today.