Role of ICT in environmental ratings for buildings

The continuing education article "LEED Looks Ahead With an Ambitious Overhaul" by Joan Gonchar (May 2009, Architectural Record), provides a good overview of the widely adopted LEED program for energy and environmental rating of buildings. The third version of the program is now coming into use, expanding consideration of the environment the building is in. One aspect which could be developed further is the use of ICT in buildings. While ICT systems used in operating the building, such as for control of lights and air conditiong are likely to count to LEED, thous used by the building's occupants are not. ICT makes up a significant part of building energy use, as an example I have estimated for the Australian National University, Computer Science and Information Technology building my office is in that desktop computers consume about one third of the energy in the building. This is without counting the servers, supercomputers or the air conditioning load from them in summer. Building consideration of ICT in the buildings into LEED might allow for better planning.

Since its launch in 1998, the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program has become widely accepted as the standard measure of sustainability for buildings. To date, almost 21,000 projects, representing more than 5 billion square feet, have registered their intent to seek certification under the system. Another sign of the program’s success is the long list of municipalities, state governments, and federal agencies that have adopted LEED, incorporating it into construction guidelines, legislation, and requirements for incentive programs. ...

From: "LEED Looks Ahead With an Ambitious Overhaul" by Joan Gonchar, May 2009, Architectural Record