Getting ready to start posting one blog for each of the “35 subcategories” of the LEED for Homes Rating System, I need to make a few clarifications of how I am going to go about doing this.
First, within each subcategory, there are between one and five specific sections, each with its own possibility of points. Second, many, but not all, have prerequisites. There are actually 25 prerequisites across the entire rating system — requirements that ought to be reviewed before anyone looks at wanting to do a LEED project.
Because each section within each subcategory is really its own topic, I have discovered that I will need to do one blog entry per available section. If I do not count the Innovation credits (since those are optional and will be added at the end), there are approximately 83 sections of available points/prerequisites. We need 58 points for basic level certification, 73 points for Silver, 88 points for Gold, and 103 points for Platinum (this includes the 13 points added as a home size adjustment). For each point we get, the Project Team (that’s mostly me) needs to provide verification and submittals as proof we earned the point. This leads me to believe that I will never get this finished!
So why am I doing this? My main motivation is to first get our home certified — I said we were going to do it, committed to this, we are already on the path, it is built to LEED standards, etc. — so it is just a matter of following through. Second, if I write about it, I will learn more about it. If I write about it on a blog, others might learn about it too, and I will learn even more from blog comments. (That means you, reader! Please comment!)
But how do I get through this enormous task? What should be my deadline? I’ve certainly got other things to do! For now, I will commit to doing one section a day Monday – Thursday (my working days). If anyone has any words of encouragement, or ideas for keeping this moving, please let me know.