Part of my interest in building green comes from a Montessori School project we are currently working on in Wheeling, IL. The Owner approached me after we had started with the design of the new facility and wanted to get the building LEED certified. At the time I knew very little about Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification. Therefore I attended The Greenbuild Chicago held at McCormick Place in Chicago, IL last year. I also took the intro to LEED 101 class at the convention.
As I became more familiar with building green, the U. S. Green Building Council (USCBC), and LEED it began to generate more questions I had. I decided to attend an all day workshop/class; LEED for New Construction and Major Renovation in May, 2008. This really opened my eyes to the advantages to build green and the challenges to get the building LEED certified. It was interesting and really got me enthused to learn more. When I returned to my office I used the handbook and started to apply it to the Montessori School. I am sure now that I will continue to learn more about LEED and building green as it is the future of construction.
