There is a certification scramble going on in Wilmington this year. Professionals in the building industry are using the slowdown in the market to get their LEED certifications in hopes of better positioning themselves for the next generation of business.

In March, LS3P Associates Wilmington announced all 15 members of its local architectural staff completed the LEED accreditation process through the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC).

“The industry has changed. It has changed forever,” said Chris Boney, vice president and managing principal for LS3P. “The old way of designing and doing buildings doesn’t work.”

The USGBC oversees the professional accreditation process and administers a general exam that costs about $300 that any professional can take and achieve LEED AP status. LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, AP stands for accredited professional.

Todd King, the 2009 chair of the Cape Fear Green Building Alliance and the owner of Pervious Solutions, said the importance in getting a LEED AP certification is different for designers and for construction supervisors.

“It’s more important for a supervisor to make sure certain techniques are being followed,” he said. “It’s important for a design professional to implement the latest technologies.”

The Green Building Certification Institute touts the benefits of getting a LEED certification and emphasized that a firm with LEED AP employees becomes eligible for projects that mandate participation of a LEED AP.

The importance of legitimate green certification comes into more local focus when speaking with Skye Dunning of Building Performance Specialists in Wilmington. Dunning related the story of a family’s attic, constructed by workers certified by some kind of green program, sealed it incorrectly and allowed mold to grow to an alarming extent. To fix the house, including ridding the home of the mold and removing the faulty ceiling, cost the family $100,000.

“There has been a gold rush. Everything is green. Some are seeing it as a good way to make money,” he said.

His company specializes in evaluations and energy ratings for new and existing homes. Among other services, his company also diagnoses and repairs moisture and other building problems.

“People are getting (green) certified so they can charge a consulting fee,” Dunning said. “With LEED, there has been a rush for certification because the rules just changed.” But he faults many of the programs with, thus far, lacking on the science of how a building works.

Reflecting a response to industry requests, on April 27 the U.S. Green Building Council rolls out its third version of the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program. The new version will offer more specialized exams for various professionals instead of one broad exam.

LEED appeals to others involved in the building industry, outside of builders. Architects, landscape architects, engineers, developers, construction management are just a few of the areas of practice LEED lists.

Joel McKellar, a researcher with the architecture firm LS3P in Charleston, believes LEED AP is a great starting point for those to see how the process works. For a company interested in design sustainability, such as LS3P, LEED provides a “quantifiable benchmark.”

McKellar said LS3P made a big push internally to get design staff LEED certified.

“It’s a good moment,” he said. “We pulled a lot of resources into setting up training courses.”

At the start of 2009, LS3P had 43 employees certified. By early April, that number has jumped to 87 – 50 percent of them are designers. He expects a couple more to test before the new rules go into effect.

McKellar, who also writes a blog “Real Life LEED,” noted he is now seeing more requests for proposals (RFPs) requiring either LEED certification or proof of completed LEED buildings. Whether the rise in certifications is driving the requirements or the request for requirements is driving the certifications is hard to discern. According to information McKellar forwarded from USGBC, in early March, there were more than 81,000 LEED APs.

Energy Star is a base model program for a nationwide program, in some cases allowing a home to become up to 15 percent more efficient than the building code. Based on performance, Energy Star avoids being prescriptive, as other programs might be.

The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), Dunning noted, has a green certification for those interested in verifying a green-built home. In January, the NAHB’s National Green Building Standard was approved by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI).

The NAHB program is for individuals, not companies, and requires 24 hours of NAHB-approved training, and additional continuing education every two years.

Dunning cautioned that with some certifications a verifier of green-building standards often is a member of staff from within the building company. Or, for instance, Dunning said, during an HVAC installation, the verification might be handled by the HVAC installer. This might not provide enough assurance for some building owners.

According to Dunning, Energy Star is billed as a third party consultant and provides a more “objective” assessment. Some of the programs do not provide information about how a building is put together, which also may not provide the best assurances to homeowners.

There are also environmental certification programs to consider. Such as at Compass Pointe, working towards its Audubon Gold Signature Program environmental certification for the community and the golf course.

The alphabet soup of green-certifications also affects real estate agents. The national organization for realtors also has a certification process for members.

The National Association of Realtors launched its program in November 2008. The NAR’s Green Designation, according to its Web site “Provides real estate professionals with the knowledge and awareness of green building principles applied in residences, commercial properties, developments, and communities so that they can list, market, and manage green properties as well as guide buyer-clients, in purchasing green homes and buildings.”

Kasey Valente, however, chose to receive her certification with Ecobroker.com. She has had a personal interest to “go the green route and renovation and making energy efficient and sustainability in terms of what we spend in terms of usage.”

As a real estate agent, Valente has been actively encouraging her clients to buy green and renovate green since at least 2007. Renovations are an easy way to improve the energy of the state of the home, Valente said. After researching the program and impressed with the Ecobroker program, which has been around since 2002, she decided to pursue its designation and not the NAR’s.

Valente, whose license plate reads “EZBNGRN” [Easy-Being-Green] works with Intracoastal Realty, New Homes and Condominiums and feels passionate about changing the environment and tries to marry her personal and professional beliefs—even encouraging sustainable and green projects in her children’s school.She cited that, according to the Department of Energy, 90 percent
of homebuyers consider the home energy being used in a home they consider buying.

Besides providing Valente with the knowledge of sustainability and various green systems, Valente’s Ecobroker designation has put her into green networking. Clients have found her through her listing on Ecobroker.com, but at the same time, service providers have also discovered her, which has helped her develop a “better portfolio in the green industry.”

“Knowing home inspectors or flooring experts has helped with all clients,” Valente said.

 For Valente, going green makes professional sense. “There are so many different ways for someone to be efficient and consumers are really interested in that.”