LEED AP

After months (on and off) of studying, I have passed my LEED for New Construction V2.2 test! Yea!

I began studying for this test last fall - but always pushed it to the back burner, with more important and pressing things to do, like knit baby hats, watch TV, clean the house, etc. You get the picture.

In January, we found out that as of the end of March 2009, they would be changing the test to the new version of LEED, the test would be much harder, and you would have to keep up on your accreditation. That did not sound appealing to me in the least. So starting in February, I really buckled down and started studying for the exam.

What is LEED you may ask? LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. It is a rating system for the construction of buildings on how "green" it is. So your next question is probably, what does this allow me to do that I couldn't do before? The answer to that is simple, NOTHING. I could always work on LEED projects, and design towards the LEED credits. The only thing that this accreditation achieves - is that on LEED projects, you can earn 1 pt towards your certification for having a LEED AP on the design team. Your final question is, why would you do it then? The answer to this is also simple. It is the "cool" and "in" thing to do in the construction industry, and I get to add some cool letters to my signature file for my work email.

My signature file before:

Keedran A. Thorpe
Scanlon Szynskie Group, Inc.
Electrical Engineering & Lighting Design
3045 South Parker Road Suite 225 Aurora, CO 80014
Phone: 303.696.2602 Fax: 303.696.0812

Scanlon Szynskie Group, Inc. is DBE, SBE, and WBE certified.

My signature file after:

Keedran A. Thorpe LEED® AP
Scanlon Szynskie Group, Inc.
Electrical Engineering & Lighting Design
3045 South Parker Road Suite 225 Aurora, CO 80014
Phone: 303.696.2602 Fax: 303.696.0812

Scanlon Szynskie Group, Inc. is DBE, SBE, and WBE certified.

Regardless, I am glad that the test is over, and that I know longer need to retain the average number of times a person goes #1 and #2 during the day. Side note - what really bothered me about that particular credit - is that it assumed that every person washes their hands after each time that they went #1 and #2. The truth of the matter is, they don't. So right there -that is water conservation at its finest. YUCK.

I can now go back to my regularly scheduled activities of knitting baby hats, watching TV, blogging, etc. Sorry for the brief hiatus while I was trying to study.