The Living Building Water Challenge Petal Vs. LEED Water Use Reduction Credit

    

The Living Building Water Challenge and the LEED, or Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design, are both a rating system that provide a scale for measuring a building’s incorporation of green building strategies as compared to using methods that used by conventional buildings that we commonly see. To bring sustainable water features into their rating systems, LEED created their Water Consumption and Conservation Credit and the Living Building Challenge takes it a step further by establishing their water petal. 

LEED is the most widely used green building rating system in the world and it’s system is more obtainable for builders to achieve. It is a point-based system, meaning the more efficient your are with handling your water, the more points you receive. Depending on rather the building is commercial or not, calculations are are taken place on occupants estimated usage to determine the amount of points awarded. For more information how a building accumulates points, visit: http://www.usgbc.org/credits/retail-nc/v2009/wec3

The Living Building Challenge is comprised is bit harder for builders to achieve because of two main rules. According to the International Living Future Institute, “One hundred percent of the project’s water needs must be supplied by captured precipitation or other natural closed loop water systems,12 and/or by re-cycling used project water, and must be purified as needed without the use of chemicals.” The last rule states that in order to be be verified after construction, the building must function for 12 consecutive months before becoming a candidate. 

The International Living Future Institute: https://living-future.org/sites/default/files/reports/FINAL%20LBC%203_0_WebOptimized_low.pdf

These are both important systems that will lead us into the future and steer us into to the right direction. In some countries, a decrease in portable water is becoming a huge issue, and its resources are very valuable. We must move forward in taking action to redefine water as waste and use it as efficient as possible. As an architectural community, The Living Building water Challenge Petal and the LEED Water Use Reduction Credit is a good addition that we should make into our designs in order to make water efficiency more common.