LEED-ND: NEW RATING SYSTEMS FOR GREEN NEIGHBORHOODS IS INAUGURATED - part 3

LEED-ND “The old headquarters was on a transit line, but the new one was built so far away that everybody who worked there had to drive. People who used to take transit had to buy a car,’’ he said. “The energy spent on commuting to the new building blew out the energy savings in the LEED-certified building.” “The Bank of America Tower on Sixth Avenue between 42nd and 43rd streets in Manhattan is a perfect example of a building that was built to meet LEED platinum building standards, but would also meet LEED neighborhood standards because it is an infill site with something like a half dozen major transit lines reached by elevators right underneath it,” Norquist said of the 54-story skyscraper on Bryant Park. “Not every place is like Manhattan, so the (LEED-ND) system is calibrated to deal with smaller communities and smaller projects. While filled with complex calculations for everything from number of streets per block (small streets and lots of them earn high points) to ways of conserving topsoil and wetlands on-site, Norquist stresses that LEED-ND’s bottom line is market-friendly.