Leonardo Academy Releases Survey Report

MADISON, Wis. February 9th, 2017 /3BL Media/ -- Today Leonardo Academy, Inc. The Sustainability Experts®, released a survey report about the use of the LEED® green building rating system among colleges and universities in the United States.

The data gathered from survey responses offers insight into the level of LEED participation compared to other available programs, driving factors for pursuing LEED and its specific applications (for New Construction, Existing Buildings, and ongoing recertification), level of importance to key stakeholders, barriers to pursuing campus sustainability through LEED, and more.

Survey results offer several key takeaways. Compared to other available sustainability programs, colleges and universities participate in LEED the most. However, there appears to be a missed opportunity for campuses to leverage the LEED for Existing Building (EB O+M) rating system despite its known benefits. Most institutions of higher education pursue sustainable design certification using LEED for New Construction (NC) to a far great degree than they use LEED EB O+M.

In addition, the survey results reveal that in weighting campus sustainability by level of importance to stakeholders, current and prospective students and staff are believed to be more invested in campus sustainability than alumni and donors. This suggests that concentrating on the sustainability of facilities for daily users should provide tangible benefits to the recruitment, retention and performance of the human capital of the institution.

President of Leonardo Academy Michael Arny said, “The survey highlights the frequently missed opportunity to use ongoing LEED EB O+M recertification to assure ongoing performance of both buildings first certified under LEED NC and buildings first certified under LEED EB O+M.”

View and download the full report by clicking here.

Leonardo Academy welcomes discussion, feedback, and suggestions. Please send them to: info@leonardoacademy.org