Perhaps you’ve been in the Legacy Gallery of the Ford Rouge Factory Tour and noticed the large gold award on the wall from the US Green Building Council (USGBC), awarding the Ford Motor Company Rouge Complex a LEED Award in 2003. So what is the Green Building Council and what is a LEED award?
The USGBC is the nation’s foremost coalition of leaders from across the building industry working to promote buildings that are environmentally responsible, profitable and healthy places to live and work. They are an organization leading a national consensus for the production of a new generation of buildings that deliver high performance inside and out. Council members work together to develop LEED products and resources. They hold the annual International Conference Expo and issue policy guidance plus educational and marketing tools to support the adoption of sustainable buildings. They work to promote buildings that are environmentally responsible, profitable and healthy.
The LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Green Building Rating System® is a voluntary, consensus-based national standard for developing high-performance, sustainable buildings.
LEED was created to:
- define "green building" by establishing a common standard of measurement
- promote integrated, whole-building design practices
- recognize environmental leadership in the building industry
- stimulate green competition
- raise consumer awareness of green building benefits
- transform the building market
Locally, the University of Michigan Medical Center and Henry Ford Health systems along with Lawrence Tech are among the more recent additions to places that are making use of Green building techniques and seeking certification from LEED. To be certified, buildings have to earn innovation points by using components like nontoxic, fumeless paints and adhesives, installing insulating and water-retentive rooftop gardens and large expanses of glass for natural light. Additional points are earned for using waterless urinals, energy efficient heating and cooling systems and a predominance of recyclable materials. The idea is to minimize environmental impact inside and outside of buildings.
The Ford Rouge Factory Tour is among 2100 new structures that have won the coveted award since 2000. From the tour’s observation deck, you can see the 10.4-acre “living roof”. It’s actually tens of thousands of tiny sedum plants that decrease energy consumption by 7 percent and improve air quality by as much as 40 percent.
The roof is also a central component of an $18 million rainwater treatment system capable of cleaning up to 20 billion gallons of water every year. And scores of energy-efficient skylights and light monitors permit the plant to provide full illumination while shutting off as much as 50 percent of its artificial illumination.
And the roof is only one of many elements in an elaborate industrial eco-system that is architecturally inspired as much as it is technologically ahead of its time.
Visit the Ford Rouge Factory Tour to see the LEED infrastructure at work.
Sources:
http://www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CategoryID=19
http://www.usgbc.org
Detroit Free Press, Business section March 6, 2006