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LEED: Learning about LEED
Listen to this articleIn the cottage industry that has sprung up to teach about green building and LEED certification, there are two schools of thought: the learn-for-the-long-haul school, and the other one.
That other one is Belmont, Calif.-based Professional Publications Inc., which, for $400 per person, teaches how to pass the exam to earn the Green Building Certification Institute’s designation of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Accredited Professional.
 This is one in a series of installments in a national series by The Daily Record and other Dolan Media publications about the effectiveness of the LEED certification program. From Wednesday: Coming Friday: How local jurisdictions deal with LEED. |
The company, which expects 2,000 people to take its LEED course this year, focuses on the exam, not on green-building practices, said Dann Bergman, director of education.
“We talk about what kind of things to expect on the exam, how the exam is structured,” he said. “We go through some practice problems so they know what to expect. We do tell people that they should probably take the exam shortly after the course so it’s still fresh.”
Charlie Popeck, president and CEO of the training company Green Ideas, Phoenix, said he rejected the offer to become a Professional Publications Inc. instructor. Green-building courses should teach people to design a sustainable building, he said, and should not focus solely on how to pass an exam.
Green Ideas’ exam course costs $420 per person if registered two weeks in advance.
Popeck said teaching professionals to get the LEED AP stamp without cutting their teeth on green-building practices dilutes the certification’s significance.
“I think it’s already losing some credibility in the marketplace,” he said, “because people have been accredited for many years and never worked on a LEED project.”
Daniel Bulley, a LEED AP and senior vice president of the Mechanical Contractors Association, uses the same approach as Popeck. He said Professional Publications raised eyebrows in Chicago with an e-mail promoting its class and encouraging people to take the LEED exam before a revision makes it more difficult.
The U.S. Green Building Council, which created the institute that administers the test, welcomes companies that practice either approach as long as the classes are accurate, said Peter Templeton, the council’s senior vice president of education and research. The council employs 70 instructors, chosen for their real-world experience, but they are not nearly enough to train everyone who wants LEED education, he said.
Templeton said the council has a symbiotic relationship with private companies that teach about LEED: The companies make their money, and the council enjoys their efforts to spread the word about green building.
Architects seeking the LEED AP accreditation understand it attracts clients, but they also practice green design as a value beyond any title, said Matthew Carbone, outreach/events coordinator for the American Institute of Architects chapter in Columbus, Ohio. The chapter twice hired Professional Publications for seminars.
Carbone said teaching architects how to pass a LEED exam won’t dilute their basic fealty to green principles.
“My understanding of it would be that a lot of architects feel that they practice with sustainability in mind,” he said. “They don’t think they’re separate. They don’t think sustainability is a separate component to design.”
The Green Building Council is discussing creating continuing-education requirements so the LEED AP title keeps its significance, Popeck said. Another addition could be requiring people to have a minimum level of experience before taking the test, he said.
“Although (continuing-education requirements) are under discussion right now, I don’t see them happening within the next year or so,” Popeck said. “That could change, and I think that needs to change.”
