The change applied to parking garage certification is unfortunate and short sighted. the 75% rule appears also to apply to warehouse, transportation centers, and other spaces that contribute to the triple bottom line as well as global climate change. Parking garages preserve space for alternative uses with its high density getting cars off the street, open space parking, storm water management and countless other benefits. Parking garages meeting MPR (namely 1 FTE) could be relegated to CI certification but BD+C should apply so long as minimum program requirements are met.
request clarification for reversal or recommendation to use CI for new parking structure certfication.
Tristan Roberts
RepresentativeVermont House of Representatives
LEEDuser Expert
11475 thumbs up
July 10, 2011 - 6:05 am
Joseph, our website is independent from USGBC and GBCI, so they will have to give you a definitive answer. However, based on the LEED Interpretation that provided this ruling, I don't see how LEED-CI is any different from BD&C. The ruling is based on the percentage of the project devoted to parking.To those who are wondering why USGBC made this ruling, I can only speculate. But here is my guess (and I will make no comment on whether I agree or not):LEED was not developed for unoccupied structures, including parking garages. USGBC is not saying that parking garages are never "green," nor that one parking garage cannot be "greener" than the other. They are simply saying that the current LEED rating systems aren't suited for this building type, and they don't want to see them used this way for the time being.There are major organizations devoted to parking garages. If USGBC doesn't want to work in this area, I would look to those groups to develop LEED-like standards.