If you are interested in going greener in your home, you’ve likely encounter the expression “LEED” or even “LEED Certified.” LEED, which stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is an application created by the U.S. Green Building Council that offers third party verification of green buildings. Buildings can earn LEED points in several of distinct regions; the goal is to make spaces that are more sustainable for the planet and fitter for the people living inside them. Among those groups of professionals that can help you navigate the tricky waters of the certificate process is LEED interior designers.
We talked with Philadelphia-area interior designer and LEED accredited professional (AP) Amy Cuker of Down2Earth Interior Design, and 2 specialists from San Francisco Bay Area’s Niche Interiors: interior designer and certified green building professional Jennifer Jones, along with junior designer and LEED AP Lynn Trinh. Here are five explanations about what they’re doing.
Amy Cuker, MBA, LEED AP
1. Just because LEED designers are green doesn’t mean they forfeit fashion. Recall a LEED interior designer was an interior designer initially and chose to further her or his training to become a LEED accredited professional — so you can expect the identical level of taste and professionalism as from another design expert.
“I like to point out to my clients that first and foremost, you need to make design decisions that are practical for you and your loved ones,” states Cuker. “Reuse or repurpose items that are still workable, and if purchasing new items, buy items that are top quality and timeless. If something is not practical or falls apart or goes out of fashion, I don’t care what percentage of its contents were recycled, or if it came from a certified forest. It is still heading for a landfill a good deal earlier than a one-piece bit whose design is lasting. In this manner being a fantastic LEED designer does not really differ from only being a really good, thoughtful interior designer, period.”
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2. LEED designers look beyond the labels to locate truly sustainable products and materials. It is all too easy for the average user to get fooled by “greenwashing” — claims that a commodity is ecofriendlier than it truly is. A fantastic LEED designer can steer you on the real deal.
“LEED designers are educated about the sort of materials and finishes used in residential interiors — we now use this knowledge to assist our clients create homes that are healthy for their own families and the environment” says Jones. “We decrease carbon footprint by sourcing locally, define responsibly and sustainable harvested timber, and source and repurpose vintage furniture to decrease waste.”
Amy Cuker, MBA, LEED AP
Cuker adds, “Often when designing a kitchen, as an example, I will have a conversation with a client about sustainable materials. Sure, you can find solid-surface countertops with a great deal of recycled quartz mixed in, or you may use bamboo timber, which regrows super fast, so these are billed as sustainable options. However, when you have a closer look, these products almost always come from abroad. If your stuff have to journey across the world to get to youpersonally, is your carbon footprint still low enough to call these options sustainable?”
She’s “I must admit I don’t always know the answer, but I always raise the question, so that if there’s a choice that’s sustainable and local, and functional and beautiful, we can have more optimism regarding the sustainability of our design decisions.”
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3. LEED designers can help you have a healthy home. Families that have or are anticipating children could be especially interested in moving greener at home for health reasons, and a LEED designer can help you accomplish that goal.
“Indoor air quality is one of our main concerns when selecting paint, furniture, cabinets and carpeting,” states Jones. “As designers we educate our clients on which goods off-gas harmful compounds, and we eliminate or decrease the usage of them as much as you can.”
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Jones continues, “For example, we define zero-VOC paints, which emit no harmful chemicals and are safe to use while clients are still living in their property. We also design custom eco-friendly upholstery that contain no flame retardants, which are linked to a wide variety of medical complications, such as impaired fertility and IQ.”
Amy Cuker, MBA, LEED AP
4. LEED designers are not terrified of hand-me-downs. “If your parents or grandparents were thrifty, so they were also kind of green. If they’re willing to pass something old down to you, don’t dismiss it out of hand. Just take a close look and see if there’s any way it may be used or displayed in your modern life,” states Cuker.
“Our layout landscape may look homogenized if you source all of your inner accoutrements from chain stores,” she adds. “However, something that has been passed down will have personal history. And if it stuck around this long, it is very likely to be of better quality than many objects currently being generated. By way of example, these are my parents’ 40-year-old orange crushed-velvet couches [revealed], which have now taken up residence in my living room”
Amy Cuker, MBA, LEED AP
5. Not every job is a great candidate for LEED certification, but LEED designers may still help your home. Some variables may be outside your control when it comes to green home design, especially if you already own your home and aren’t starting from scratch. However, you can still use a LEED designer that will assist you make your home as green as you can — and that’s a fantastic thing.
“There are many reasons why homeowners may want a LEED certification,” Cuker states. “Perhaps they believe sticking to the LEED standard will guarantee a certain level of indoor air quality and health for those occupants, or maybe they believe they’ll get better resale value within their home, or maybe they simply believe that by having a home that is certified, they are setting a fantastic public example for others to follow”
She’s “But homeowners should know that it takes a large amount of administrative effort, and related professional fees, to acquire the official certification. A nonrated home could be every bit as green as long as it employs sustainable plans. Do not let the hassle of going through the certification process stand in the way of making the healthiest design decisions possible. Do what is right for your home and the entire world, whether or not you opt to take part in the LEED certification process.”
Amy Cuker, MBA, LEED AP
“As an interior designer, I’m frequently brought into a job after the site has been chosen,” Cuker elaborates. “Once chosen, the site and its characteristics — like its proximity to public transportation, how water runoff is managed, what percentage is paved etc. — are pretty far outside of an interior designer’s control, and those things depend when opting for LEED credits. If you can not do much about the site, don’t let it prevent you from employing sustainable strategies where you are able to.”
She offers this guidance: “LEED gets got the most widely recognized brand name for green building certification, as a result of the hard work of the U.S. Green Building Council. However, LEED is only 1 tool to assess the sustainability of a home. There are many others out there as well, and homeowners may want to explore alternatives and decide what is right for them.”
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Inform us Would you consider working toward LEED certification? Curious about anything else LEED interior designers do? Share your ideas and questions in the Remarks section.
More: What Is LEED All About, Anyway?