LEED AP or LEED AP with Specialty – what is everyone doing?

[Sarah Kopke-Jones]

Hello,

I took the LEED exam back in 2009 and have until this September to decide if I want to enroll in a specialty or keep the plain old LEED AP designation.  I am wondering what most LA’s in this situation are doing since BD+C, O+M and ID+C do not correspond well with our job.  ND is a bit better but if Sustainable Sites is on track to be integrated into LEED (it has years to go though), that would make most sense for us as a ‘specialty’. I understand that if I keep LEED AP only and wish to accrue a specialty later, I will have to start over with the GA exam. Any thoughts or advice?

[Theodore Tegen]

I got my original LEED AP designation back in ’07.  From what I understand, if we want to skip the Green Associates exam, the only route we can take is the BD+C.  If you go onto the USGBC website to select a track, I think it will only allow you to select BD+C.

[Jordan Lockman]

ND is fairly new in the last year.

[Jordan Lockman]

After going through the time and commitment to do the LARE Exams my family has banned me from tests for a while. However if I were to take the tests I would do the ND test.

 

[Matthew Latham]

I am keeping my legacy LEED AP and not going for a specialty at this time. The continuing education requirements seem rather cumbersome and do not overlap well with my continuing ed requirements for licensure. I have enough time and expense invested in credential maintenance right now, I do not feel like I need more of that at this time.

[Alan Ray, RLA]

I have done a major leed job without leed cert., so I am wondering what is so important abot leed if you don’t  need it….is the main idea that it makes you marketable to those that don’t  know?

Just asking….

 

 

[Theodore Tegen]

I need to correct myself, if you take the exam route to gaining a “specialty” designation, you can choose from any of the categories.  However if you take the credentialing route, you are locked into the BD+C track.

[Theodore Tegen]

Yes the LEED AP designation (people are accredited, projects are certified) is very much a marketing tool, in a similar fashion to professional credentialing (e.g. the RLA designation), as information to clients who don’t know you, that you have been qualified by an independent agency as minimally competent in the realm of sustainable design.  In addition, the project gets an extra point for having a LEED AP on the project staff.

[Jordan Lockman]

I agree that it is not needed, but in a field where you are only as good as your PR it never hurts to have another set of letters.

[Theodore Tegen]

True, many industry BMPs have for quite some time been aiming to achieve similar results as the LEED certification process, though in many areas, LEED encourages going above and beyond those BMPs.  The goals of LEED are also different in the regard that industry BMPs are aimed at cost savings, not necessarily environmental protection.

Though it is an expensive process, it is also the direction that many clients want to go, even if LEED certification serves as nothing more than a marketing tool for the client.  There is definitely a lot of backlash towards LEED from industry professionals, however if you look at it from a larger societal perspective, it is a great step in the direction of a sustainable built environment (sustainable used very lightly!). 

In my opinion, one of the best things that the LEED process has done is to drastically reduce landfill volume from construction projects.  Construction projects contribute to something like 60% of landfill volume.

So sure, LEED has it’s drawbacks, most things do, but in general I believe it is a net positive program.

[Alan Ray, RLA]

I guess….they taught this stuff  in school 40 years ago….

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