Proposed LEED-EBOM Revisions

Although a strong Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance (LEED-EBOM) certification program is in place, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) is currently updating the certification standards with a targeted released date of 2012. The first round of public comments ended in January and the second round will take place in July.

What are some of the changes possibly coming down the pike?

The USGBC increased the scope of the pre-requisite green cleaning policy to include product categories beyond cleaning chemicals, equipment, trash liners and paper products, says Steve Ashkin, who serves as the USGBC expert on green cleaning and president of The Ashkin Group, LLC.

“Those product categories already had well-established third-party certifications, such as Green Seal, making it easy to define green products,” says Ashkin. “The new version hopes to develop strategies for purchasing sustainable cleaning products such as mop buckets, wringers, carts and floor mats, where the attributes would be durability, reliability, recycled content and the use of nontoxic materials.”

He adds, “The goal is to get building managers thinking about how they would green those other janitorial products. LEED is giving a clear signal to the marketplace that they want us to think about this stuff.”

But sustainability must go beyond products to include environmental improvements that help conserve water and energy. The proposed pre-requisite change asks facility managers to solicit vendor assistance in conserving energy, water and chemicals, and in adopting sustainable laundry and warewashing practices.

Finally, the proposed LEED-EBOM revisions include an effort to boost the importance of training across the industry.

“It’s not merely enough to use green products. You have to use them correctly and within a program that results in a high-performing building,” says Ashkin.

The expanded language will also require custodial managers to consider staffing and contingency planning, absenteeism, pandemic situations and more.

“If there isn’t enough staff to perform green cleaning, they will end up with a dirty or unhealthy building anyway,” he says.

In terms of optional credits, previously, operations only needed to ensure 30 percent of their product purchases met green requirements. But if the proposed standard goes into effect, 60 percent of the products purchased will need to meet these specifications.

“The industry has done such a good job of developing products that are greener and cost relative that the USGBC felt the current threshold was too low,” Ashkin says.

There are also efforts to raise the requirements of powered equipment, and the USGBC is trying to strike a balance where buildings can add greener equipment without disposing of functioning equipment they already own.

“The USGBC is also working to make sure LEED-EBOM does not become a barrier to innovation,” Ashkin explains. “For example, green chemicals are defined as third-party certified, but there is new technology that replaces the use of chemicals with electrolytes and ionized water. The council is trying to devise a way to recognize these new tools.”

Even with proposed changes afoot and the fact that LEED-EBOM requires concerted effort on the front end, Mike Opitz, principal at The Cadmus Group and former vice president of LEED implementation, points to the experiences of others who have already taken this journey as to why its worth the effort.

“Their response, after they’ve gotten certified, is: ‘Yes, I would do this again; yes, we’re seeing benefits, and no we don’t have any regrets.’”  

Ronnie Garrett is a freelance writer based in Fort Atkinson, Wis.