1 Old Country Road is a 276,008 square foot, 5 floor tall commercial building located in Carle Place, Long Island. The building has been in operation for over 50 years ever since it was built back in 1969. It recently underwent a change in ownership, who plan to upgrade this building into a LEED certified energy-efficient and sustainable commercial hub.
What is LEED?
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction, and operation of high-performance green buildings. The rating system assigns points in six main categories: Site Selection, Water Efficiency, Energy & Atmosphere, Materials & Resources, Indoor Environmental Quality, and Innovation & Design Process. Buildings can earn Certified, Silver, Gold or Platinum level certification, depending on the quantity and quality of measures pursued. Buildings are responsible for an enormous amount of global energy use, resource consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. As the demand for more sustainable building options increases, green construction is becoming increasingly profitable and desirable within the international construction market.
LEED Benefits:
- Cost Savings: Large organizations that change their interior lighting and HVAC systems to make them more energy efficient due to LEED certification usually experience a significant reduction with regards to their annual power costs. Furthermore, energy efficient structures have better value in real estate than the traditional buildings.
- Enhances Productivity: Attaining LEED certification increases productivity since working in energy efficient atmospheres has been shown to boost employee efficiency. In fact, employees who carry out their duties in facilities and offices that have enhanced natural lighting and better air quality have a reduced absenteeism rate and retain their posts longer.
- Provides Significant Environment Proof: Getting the LEED certification usually involves a very strict process, and it provides compelling evidence to your peers, clients as well as the public in general that you have attained the environmental goals. This certification also enables you to take advantage and use the increasing number of local and state government incentives.
- Enhances Employee Health: Since implementing LEED strategies entail improving water and air quality in a particular building, it leads to enhanced employee comfort and health. This benefit is also reaped by every person involved in the project including designers, occupants, and the society in general.
How The New One is Becoming LEED Certified
In order to see which measures yield the highest savings, an Energy Model was conducted on the building. The energy efficient measures were simulated individually against the existing building simulation and percentage savings for each was observed and analyzed. Some of the measures being implemented are below:
- LED Lighting and Sensors : Installing LED lighting and sensors at 1OCR has reduced the LPD using building area method for the building from 1.1 W/sq.ft to 0.85 W/sq.ft. To provide further energy savings for the building, the existing LED fixtures that have high wattages will be replaced with high-efficiency fixtures with low wattages. These measures drastically reduce the area lighting consumption for the building.
- DGU Façade (Window Replacements) : The building currently has a high window coverage and it is housing single-pane windows. These windows have a U-value of 1.1 and a considerably high Solar Heat Gain Co-efficient (SHGC). Alteration of the glass to double pane windows will result in significant reductions in both cooling and heating consumption values. Double-pane windows have a lower SHGC and better insulation.
- Solar Panels: This building has a large parking garage that is currently being renovated. They are installing 2 GWh solar panels on the roof of the parking garage. These panels should be able to offset around 90% of energy for the building. Installing solar panels helps combat greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and reduces the buildings dependence on fossil fuel.
Purpose of LEED
LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is a revolutionary approach to sustainable construction, a full suite of environmentally responsible building practices. The globally recognized certification program seeks to transform the construction industry by developing rigorous standards for green building design, development and operation.
LEED evaluates critical aspects, including energy efficiency, water conservation, material selection, and indoor environmental quality, to incentivize architects, developers, and builders to design structures that have minimal environmental impact while promoting occupant health and well-being. The program is a critical benchmark, catalyzing innovation and sustainability in the built environment.
LEED Certification: How Does It Work?
LEED certification is based on a comprehensive points-based system that assesses a building’s sustainability across multiple critical domains. LEED Online registration starts projects off with teams meticulously documenting their compliance with stringent environmental standards.
The Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI) takes this work very seriously. It rigorously reviews submitted evidence and awards points for energy efficiency, water conservation, materials selection, and indoor environmental quality.
For points earned, certifications are stratified into four levels: Certified with 40 points, Silver with 60 points, Gold with 70 points and Platinum with 80+ points. Differentiated rating systems cater for the gamut of project types, from new construction to neighborhood development, offering a customized method for sustainable design.
Green Building Workforce: How To Equip?
The United States Green Building Council (USGBC) has been critical in creating a highly developed, globally connected green building workforce. Innovative educational programs and comprehensive credentialing systems have equipped over 205,000 professionals worldwide with critical sustainability knowledge to do their jobs.
Credentials provide architects, engineers, designers, and construction professionals with advanced knowledge of sustainable building practices. USGBC drives continuous learning and innovation through its training programs, which provide targeted training, host the industry’s most transformative events, such as Greenbuild, and create a collaborative professional network.
This strategic approach translates to professionals who not only have the preparation to create environmentally responsible structures but also make a commitment to human and ecological well-being through sustainable design.
The Future of Green Building and LEED v5
LEED v5, to launch in 2025, is a critical leap forward in sustainable building design to address key global challenges through strategic innovation. The upcoming version emphasizes three transformative pillars: Building decarbonization, human health, and biodiversity preservation. LEED still keeps going through market-driven incentives rather than rigid mandates by maintaining its voluntary framework.
It enables adaptive collaborative progress across the construction industry. The new version reflects a decisive step toward integrated environmental stewardship, with green building emerging as a strategic pathway to address climate change, improve occupant well-being and protect ecological systems through creative and visionary design strategies.
Pursuing LEED Certification
Here’s a structured approach to pursuing LEED certification:
- Project Registration: First, you’ll want to sign up for your project on the USGBC’s LEED Online platform. Gather all the necessary information for the project, and this includes specifications, architectural plans, and project design strategies.
- Credit Assessment: Analyze your project type’s applicable LEED credits and prerequisites. Then, identify potential sustainable design opportunities across categories such as energy efficiency, water conservation, material selection, and indoor environmental quality.
- Strategic Planning: Create a comprehensive sustainability strategy that strategically focuses on reaching LEED certification requirements. Work with project teams to incorporate green building principles into design and construction processes.
- Implementation and Verification: To document progress, collect evidence of compliance with LEED standards at all stages of the project lifecycle, and execute sustainable design strategies.
- Certification Review: The final documentation is submitted to Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI) for rigorous assessment and potential certification.
Conclusion
Beyond being a certification, LEED is a transformative movement changing the world’s built environment. The program creates rigorous standards for sustainable design, drives innovation, lowers environmental impact, and prioritizes human health.
LEED still challenges architects, developers, and builders to reimagine construction’s potential from its comprehensive points-based system to its forward-looking v5 framework.
Against intensifying climate challenges, this voluntary yet potent system provides a blueprint for responsible development. Green building is not just about buildings, but about building resilient, efficient spaces that align human needs with environmental preservation, one certified building at a time, one future at a time.
All these measures can provide savings for the building while simultaneously reducing GHG Emissions and upgrading the building into a LEED certified energy-efficient and sustainable commercial hub. Check out our “Transforming a Green Building” page to keep up with the latest updates to 1 Old Country Road and follow its evolution to becoming LEED Certified.
