Greening Without Credit

From Great Lakes Wiki

Michigan goes green without LEED-certification recognition

By Natalie Newman, with additional reporting by Amanda Peterka

Bronze, silver, gold and platinum may describe fine charms at a jewelry store, but they are actually terms for energy efficiency efforts at Michigan’s state buildings.

Gov. Jennifer Granholm is pushing for state buildings to go green, but the cost of gaining official certification doesn’t fit into the Michigan’s dwindling budget. However, the state is still striving to meet top-notch environmental guidelines.

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, commonly known as LEED, -certification entails scrutinizing building design and its impact on the environment. The governor has mandated that certain guidelines be followed without the costly requirement of gaining official certification.

A major complaint of the LEED-system is the cost. While it is understandably needed to cover certification, Michigan cannot afford it, said State Energy Program Manager Jan Patrick of Michigan’s Department of Labor and Economic Growth.

The cost is $30,000-$40,000 per building, said Keith Paasch, director of the building operations division of the Department of Management and Budget.

The cost is related to paying experts to do the paper work and registration and actual certification, said Joe O’Connor, vice president of project management of Sustainable Energy Partners, an energy consultant for commercial buildings. Aside from this there’s also the cost of improvements.

“Ideally the state is supported by tax payer dollars,” Patrick said. “We have to use them wisely. This process is very expensive.”

But Robert Jackson, environmental engineer in the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, says LEED-certification is a possibility for the future. “As the cost comes down, we’ll probably end up doing it,” he said.

Certification would give the state’s energy policies more credibility and recognition, and serve as a stimulus for Michiganders to make their businesses and homes more efficient.

In 2005, the governor required that all state renovation and construction projects meet minimum LEED guidelines. The 2005 mandate stated that buildings must meet these energy efficiency guidelines with a minimum score of 26 (the lowest score needed for certification on the LEED scorecard), but it didn’t require buildings to gain certification, just to be built to those standards, said Paasch.

The guidelines for buildings grew in 2007 when Granholm charged that state buildings must aim for top-notch environmental rankings by striving to meet the highest certification level, platinum. All new construction is designed and built to these platinum guidelines, said Sarah Edgerton of the Department of Management and Budget’s building operations division.

Even with the costs, Michigan has six LEED-certified facilities, including: the Niles State Police Post, the Grand Rapids State Office Building, a Warren Department of Environmental Quality facility, a shower facility in Grand Haven State Park, a shower facility in Otsego Lake State Park and the Mackinac City Harbor Master facility.

A new building project is underway in Bay City with goals to meet the gold level of certification, said Kevin King, a state energy use reduction coordinator. The Bay City Department of Environmental Quality building will have energy-efficient underground heating and cooling systems, skylights, waterless urinals and a wind turbine on the way.

“We’re not doing this for the recognition. We’re doing it for a legitimate reason…” said Bob McCann, spokesman for the Department of Environmental Quality. “There are going to be times where it might not be feasible to make every step (of LEED-certification). The idea behind it is that we’re going to make every effort to do so.”

See where Michigan's LEED buildings are located.

Go back to the State of Michigan's Energy Efficiency