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Recently, as many of you are aware, Equity Office committed to seek LEED certification for all of it’s office properties in the Boston region. In Boston proper, this will increase the number of buildings with green certification by 50% bringing the total from 23 buildings up to 34. This is a huge step for Boston’s Mayor Menino who has passed a zoning law requiring LEED certification for new construction over 50,000 square feet, but who can only encourage, not require, owners of existing buildings to “go green”. And this is a huge step for the commercial office real estate sector because Equity Office is commiting to green its existing buildings.

LEED is becoming a comprehensive program in reference to building types. The LEED program began by certifying only new construction, but has now grown to include nine rating systems, one of which is LEED for Existing Buildings (LEED: EB). This is the rating system that Equity Office has chosen to pursue for its buildings in the Boston area (and hopefully, beyond). Equity Office was motivated by the social and fiscal benefits that a LEED: EB certification can provide to them and their tenants.

This exemplary step by Equity Office is significant not only for the City of Boston and for any players in the Class A office space sector, but for the entire existing building industry. Consider that municipal law such as Boston’s can only dictate LEED for new construction. This limits the rate of transformation to the rate of re-development which is, aside from a disaster, a slow process. With 99% the building stock composed of existing buildings, Equity Office’s mainstreaming of the use of the LEED: EB rating system, the potential for change is hugely more significant than what we have experienced with the greening of new construction.

Lest you think that is the end of the story, LEED EB has just been upgrated. Any building that registers with the USGBC (the developer of the LEED systems) on or after September 1, 2008 that is seeking LEED: EB certification must use the new version of the rating system which is called LEED for Existing Buildings: Operatoins & Maintenance (“LEED: EB O&M”, pronounced “LEED e-bom”) which is an update of LEED: EB version 2.0. To clarify, “registering” your building does not mean that you have completed the certification, rather, “registering” means that you have given the USGBC all relevant information about the building and have committed to seek LEED certification. Therefore, to use Equity Office as an example, since they ‘registered’ prior to September 1, 2008, they have the option to use either version 2.0 (most likely) or be one of the first to test out “EB O&M”.

LEED is not the only green building rating system. The Green Globes is also in the market. If you care to review a comparison of the rating systems available, check out the AIA’s “Quantifying Sustainability“.