Tristan,
I've read several comments that I would agree with and would like to say the same thing, but the original comment is adequate or even better than my own ideas. Does it help if I click the thumbs up button? Does USGBC take these into account in any way? Or do I need to register a unique comment, either here or on their website, for my voice to be heard?
Thanks.
Bill Swanson
Sr. Electrical EngineerIntegrated Design Solutions
LEEDuser Expert
734 thumbs up
March 19, 2012 - 6:44 pm
I've seen no indication that a Thumbs up on a comment has any influence on USGBC actions.
While I have seen comments from this forum get incorporated into Credit revisions they do not show up in the list of Public Comments and Responses.
If you agree with what someone says you can thumbs up their comment and then make a Public Comment on the USGBC site. Even if you just copy paste someone else's comment. It seems repetition and persistence are the most likely way to make changes in LEED. I've seen Credits where the typical response for years was 'not all projects qualify for this Credit' and now I'm seeing exceptions being added to these Credits just so these projects can earn the Credit.
Think of the movie Shawshank Redemption. Andy wrote a letter every week to the State asking for funding for a library in the prison. After years and years of nothing he finally gets a check for the books and asked to stop writing letters. His take away was that he would have gotten a faster response if he wrote two letters a week.
Mara Baum
Partner, Architecture & SustainabilityDIALOG
674 thumbs up
March 19, 2012 - 5:41 pm
I like the Shawshank Redemption analogy. LEED User comments are supposedly taken as official comments to USGBC. I'd like to hear from Tristan and Nadav comment on this.
Tristan Roberts
RepresentativeVermont House of Representatives
LEEDuser Expert
11478 thumbs up
March 19, 2012 - 5:47 pm
Bill, to the contrary, I have seen LEEDuser comments show up on the list of comments and responses—as they should.All comments here are submitted by LEEDuser to USGBC with a reference included to this forum. I do not know USGBC's internal calculus relative to receiving a similar comment multiple times, or visiting the LEEDuser forum and giving a thumbs up—your guess is as good as mine.
Bill Swanson
Sr. Electrical EngineerIntegrated Design Solutions
LEEDuser Expert
734 thumbs up
March 19, 2012 - 5:51 pm
Tristan, the item I was looking for in the Public Comment responses was about national flag uplighting regarding SSc8 compliance. I've talked about it a lot in various pages on this site and while there's no mention of it in the large excel file on USGBC's website I see that they have finally added it into this 3rd draft.
Tristan Roberts
RepresentativeVermont House of Representatives
LEEDuser Expert
11478 thumbs up
March 19, 2012 - 6:17 pm
Yes, I thought of you when I saw that! Good move, I think.Well, I'm not sure what to say about all the comments showing up, except that I want to reassure anyone on the forum reading this that the comments here are fully considered by USGBC.
Bill Swanson
Sr. Electrical EngineerIntegrated Design Solutions
LEEDuser Expert
734 thumbs up
March 19, 2012 - 7:32 pm
Thanks, I'm happy to have had some effect finally.
Glad to hear some comments showed up. I had a list of about 10 items in the 2nd public draft discussion regarding SSc8 on this site that I don't see incorporated into their comment/response file. I was just speaking from personal experience.