Skip to main content
Phone Number +1 833-567-4416

LEED Info

WHAT IS LEED?

Developed by the U.S. Green Building Council, LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is a framework for identifying, implementing, and measuring green building and neighborhood design, construction, operations, and maintenance. LEED is a voluntary, consensus-based tool which serves as a guideline and assessment mechanism for the design, construction, and operation of high-performance, green buildings and neighborhoods. LEED rating systems currently address commercial, institutional, and residential building types as well as neighborhood development.

LEED seeks to optimize the use of natural resources, promote regenerative and restorative strategies, maximize the positive and minimize the negative environmental and human health impacts of the buildings industry, and provide high quality indoor environments for building occupants. LEED emphasizes integrated design, appropriate integration of existing technology, and the use of state of the art strategies to advance expertise in green building and transform professional practice.

The technical basis on which LEED is built seeks a balance between requirement of existing best practices and voluntary incorporation of leadership strategies. LEED sets a challenging yet achievable set of whole building and neighborhood benchmarks that define green building.

WHY BUILD LEED?

Impacts of U.S. buildings on the environment

According to the EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), commercial buildings in the U.S. account for the following:

39% of the total energy use

12% of the total water consumption

68% of the total electricity consumption

38% of the total carbon dioxide emissions

The LEED rating systems aim to promote a transformation of the construction industry through strategies designed to achieve seven goals:

  • To reverse contribution to global climate change
  • To enhance individual human health and well-being
  • To protect and restore water resources
  • To protect, enhance, and restore biodiversity and ecosystem services
  • To promote sustainable and regenerative material resources cycles
  • To build a greener economy
  • To enhance social equity, environmental justice, community health, and quality of life

LEED AT BLIS
The design and construction of BLIS helps to alleviate the negative environmental impacts associated with conventional projects in the following impact categories:

Sustainable Sites

The project’s location lends itself to sustainable living in a number of ways, primarily by allowing residents and staff to lower their transportation footprint. Access to nearby public transit (including the WA State ferry system) as well as access to multiple basic community amenities within walking distance and the on-site bike storage and bike repair shop reduces the need for single occupancy vehicle travel.

  • Focus on native or adaptive plants (no invasive plants) as per WA state governing standards.
  • Landscape irrigation designed to meet, but not exceed, the water needs of each plant.
  • Walking distance to many basic community amenities.
  • Location in downtown Winslow allows the building to access existing infrastructure such as water and sanitary lines (no need to extend existing lines and contribute towards “urban sprawl”).
  • Significant increase in the site’s biodiversity with an increase in the overall number of plant species and plants designed to encourage bees, butterflies and natural habitat for birds.
  • Access to open space in the adjacent park (along Ferncliff Ave).
  • Choice of roof materials helps reduce the urban heat island effect (which can adversely affect the comfort and balance of local ecosystems).
  • Conventional turf is limited (in favor of increased biodiversity and resident engagement in landscaping).
  • Net add of 114 trees on site from the existing conditions.
  • Electric charging stations in the garage.
  • Exterior lights do not contribute to Light Pollution
    • Light pollution is the inappropriate or excessive use of artificial light that has serious environmental consequences for wildlife habits (especially nocturnal animals) and on human health (by reducing glare, light trespass and light clutter) Allowing light spillage (uplighting) wastes electricity and reduces our access to the night sky.

Water Efficiency

The apartment building saves water from a high efficiency irrigation system as well as from savings from high efficiency domestic plumbing fixtures (water closets, sink faucets, showerhead, dishwashers and clothes washers).

The amount of water saved from the domestic plumbing fixtures alone (not counting the irrigation savings) is equivalent to:

  • Over 350,000 gallons of water each year- which is also 3.5 times the amount of water in the swimming pools at the Bainbridge Island Aquatic Center.
  • Individual unit water metering.
  • Water efficient fixtures and appliances.
  • Many landscape plants are drought tolerant (reducing the need for permanent irrigation).
  • Irrigation system is field verified to ensure the installation is calibrated appropriately for optimal use.

Energy Conservation

The apartment building saves a little over 20% energy from a conventionally design apartment building in our area (if that hypothetical building had simply been built to the Washington State Energy Code minimum requirements).

The amount of energy the building saves each year is the equivalent to:

  • The Greenhouse gas emissions of removing 15 cars from the road.
  • The greenhouse gas emissions of omitting 376,000 miles driven each year by a car.
  • Greenhouse gas emissions of planting 4,000 trees.
  • Carbon sequestration from 150 acres of forest each year.
  • Energy conservation in buildings starts with the building envelope (exterior walls and roof). BLIS was built with additional insulation (above the WA State Energy code prescriptive requirements) to minimize unwanted heat loss through the walls and roof. Window performance also exceeds the code minimum.
  • Domestic appliances (refrigerators, dishwashers, clothes washers, clothes dryers) are all Energy Star labeled.
  • All lights are LED (Low Emitting Diode), which produce light approximately 90% more efficiently than incandescent bulbs.
  • Lighting controls include occupancy sensors to dim or turn off light fixtures when a space is not use (such as in unoccupied corridors or restrooms).
  • Pipe insulation exceeded the code minimum (to minimize heat loss in pipes and save energy).
  • Overall, the project uses about 22% less energy than an conventionally design apartment building in this region. (Energy improvement based on increased insulation and thermal performance, higher efficiency HVAC equipment, LED lighting and efficient lighting controls and a rooftop solar PV array).
  • A rooftop mounted solar Photovoltaic (PV) array sized 18.9 kW, or 63 solar panels, contributes towards the overall building energy efficiency.
  • High efficiency and cleaner HVAC refrigerants installed reduce the equipment’s greenhouse gas emissions.

Materials Stewardship

  • Over 75% of all building material waste generated in the construction process were diverted from landfill. Instead, this amount of material was sent to local and regional recycling centers.
  • Use of reclaimed wood on interior and exterior.
  • The Douglas Fir was removed from the old 4th Street Sears/Ford dealership building in Bremerton. That building was renovated as part of an urban renewal effort which converted the old building into residential units called “B Flats”. The wood was originally 8x14 floor members. It was then milled to be used for the interior common areas.
  • Recycling, trash management and composting onsite.
  • Framing detailing was optimized to reduce the amount of framing and lumber waste used in construction.

Healthy Indoor Air Quality

  • Indoor Air Quality – Constant volume air flow.
  • Window size contributes to increased daylight to the interior.
  • Materials selections (especially paints, adhesives and sealants) are installed with low or no VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds) which can negatively impact human health and exacerbate the effects of allergies and asthma.
  • Selected materials are sources locally (within 100 miles) to reduce the environmental impacts of transportation.
  • Healthy construction practices minimize the build-up of dust, particulate or eye irritants. Practices include protecting installed ductwork from air pollutants, protecting installed flooring from dust and dirt, protecting stored materials from mold and mildew.
  • The building was “flushed” immediately prior to occupancy with 100% outside air to flush out any remaining air pollutants that may have been introduced during the construction process.
  • Filtration media installed exceed the code minimum.
  • Blower door tests were conducted on units to ensure the sealing of wall penetrations was sufficient to prevent unwanted air infiltration between units and between the unit and the outdoors.
  • The building and property are non-smoking.

PSE Rebate Program

BLIS participated in PSE’s energy efficiency rebate program.  Based on the building’s predicted energy performance, PSE has awarded Bainbridge Landing LLC with a large lump sum grant for their contribution to negawatts. 

What is a Negawatt? A negawatt is a negative megawatt: a megawatt of power saved by increasing efficiency or reducing consumption. Physicist Amory Lovins coined the term and introduced it in a speech in 1989.