UNDERSTANDING THE
LANGUAGE OF GREEN
8am
.
LEED-
Is that all Greek to you? How
about this one?
“We’re having a charrette
tomorrow at 8:00 AM about that
brown eld project. ey’ve decided
to go LEED Gold.”
One reaction could be a smile
and nod while making a mental
note to look up those words. E ective communication skills
start with knowing the words and language. If we don’t know
something, why would we be afraid to ask? e answer could
be found in a story all too familiar in our business.
A noted author friend of mine was sitting at a table with
four contractors having a beer after a day of conferences.
When the second round was underway, my friend turned
the discussion to a new method of providing heat to a remote
area. Every one of the contractors agreed it was a great innovation and held bottle on high in salute. Later that evening,
each one of the contractors approached my friend and asked,
“What were you talking about before? I’ve never heard of it.”
Each was not going to admit not knowing, but each wanted
to know because he was interested in cutting-edge concepts.
Many do not ask because they don’t want not knowing to
re ect on their professionalism.
Another reaction might be steering clear of the entire
project. Some contractors, like many professionals and
business-people, are “risk phobic.” Unfamiliar projects,
unfamiliar design concepts, unfamiliar equipment or using
familiar equipment in unfamiliar ways make the risk alarm
go off. Rightfully so – people are comfortable doing what
they know and what they understand.
e key is education. Become comfortable with the culture
and language of green, and high-performance, energy-e -
cient buildings and mechanical systems.
In this economic climate, it is important to maximize
business opportunities. High-performance, energy-e cient
and green jobs are the growing business and will increase
market share in the future.
“What is a charrette?” “What does brown eld mean?” and
“What is LEED Gold?”
Charrette: Any collaborative session in which a group
of designers dra s a solution to a design problem. In other
words, a meeting.
e current design-related meaning is working right up
until a deadline.
As the story goes, during the 1800s the place to learn
architecture was in Paris. Student architects from the École
des Beaux-Arts were the same as students in the 21st century, o en working on their homework while riding in the
school cart through the streets of Paris enroute to submit the
projects to their professors. e word charrette is from the
French for “cart.”
Brownfield: A site that has been abandoned or is underused
because of real or perceived environmental contamination.
Examples of brown eld projects:
a riverfront.
space in the downtown area.
LEED points are available making brownfield reuse
very attractive.
LEED Gold: Created and operated by the U.S. Green
Building Council (USGBC), the Leadership in Energy and
Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System is a voluntary, consensus-based national rating system
for developing high-performance, sustainable buildings.
LEED addresses all building types and emphasizes state-of-the-art strategies in ve areas: sustainable site development,
water savings, energy efficiency, materials and resources
selection, and indoor environmental quality.
ere are four levels in the LEED program: Certi ed, Silver, Gold and Platinum.
Once a person is familiar with the language, “We’re having
a charrette tomorrow at 8:00 AM about that brown eld project.
ey’ve decided to go LEED-Gold.” becomes “We’re having a
meeting tomorrow at 8:00 AM about that contaminated land
project. ey have decided to go for a building certi cation.”
Rather than smiling and nodding, wouldn’t it have
looked better to respond, “Who’s the LEED-AP?” or “Why
is it a brown eld?”
Why is learning the language important? It will help one
to communicate, to understand articles, trends, product
developments and how they all t into the puzzle.
More information is available through many sources
including GreenMech’s GreenSpeak, Green Awareness Cer-
ti cation Program and A Taste of GreenSpeak.
Tom Meyer is the principal of Praxis Green, a training company
specializing in green, high-performance, and energy-e cient
mechanical systems. He can be reached at tmeyer@praxis-
greeninc.com or 920/419-0559.
