LEED and the Foodservice Industry: Benefits and Glitches

By Amelia Levin, Sr. Associate Editor -- Foodservice Equipment & Supplies, 6/26/2008 1:24:00 PM

Most foodservice industry professionals agree that building new concepts or remodeling existing ones in accordance with LEED guidelines is no short-term fad. It’s the wave of the future and something that needs to be done to conserve our planet’s natural resources for the long-term. In fact, this topic has reached so much importance that a number of cities, including Washington, D.C., and Boston, have initiated laws and ordinances requiring new construction to follow LEED guidelines, which includes seeking energy-efficient equipment and design as well as the use of recyclable or reused materials.

Just for clarification, LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), a rating system established by the U.S. Green Building Council to “encourage and accelerate the global adoption of sustainable green building and development practices through the creation and implementation of universally understood and accepted tools and performance criteria,” according to the Council’s web site.

There is one catch with LEED, though, and it goes beyond money. LEED building design comes with some initial added costs; however, research shows these initial costs become offset over time by a reduction in energy and other related costs.

The challenge to foodservice professionals is that there are six different categories in LEED construction to which operators may apply for certification. These categories include LEED for homes; neighborhood development; commercial interiors; core & shell; new construction; and schools, healthcare and retail.

The question becomes under which category or categories does foodservice fall? And the more features a foodservice operation has, such as the blending of a cafeteria with a branded limited-service option, which is popular in many non-commercial applications these days, the more complicated the answer.

“It can be confusing to determine which LEED certification to go to for,” says Ray Soucie, principal of RSA Associates in Portland, Ore., and a recently certified LEED foodservice professional. Industry members can receive this certification to handle all LEED projects if they study and pass a 500-plus question exam similar to other certification exams. “Foodservice falls under a lot of different categories, and sometimes operators, such as a college or university, have a retail portion with a C-store as well as a café component and maybe a restaurant. Sometimes it’s easier to get LEED under one category even though there might be a better type of category to apply for. These are whole different areas to consider, and the LEED categories are crossing over.”

Soucie was asked by the U.S. Green Building Council to assist in the development of the LEED Retail category section, an area of LEED that applies to many foodservice operations. The LEED Process Improvements committee is working to revise the drafts for LEED retail by 2009.

“The U.S. Green Building Council has recognized that improvements in the whole process need to be addressed and they are addressing them,” Soucie says. “The Council is trying to clarify for foodservice operators what areas your project falls into by broadening the categories and making their requirements easier to understand.” One consideration, he adds, is grouping LEED requirements under larger categories, rather than organizing them by multiple subcategories.

The other issue with LEED guidelines and requirements is that LEED provides credit for purchasing energy-efficient equipment, but this presents a disadvantage for operators that have chosen to focus on efficient design, which may involve purchasing less equipment to save energy or figuring out ways to manage water resources that don’t involve simply purchasing an energy-efficient warewasher. For example, maybe an operator would want to install a three-compartment sink instead, or use a strainer instead of a disposer, but these decisions may not receive LEED credit.

These nuances, especially for schools, who may feel they have to specify a product in order to get a LEED credit even though there may be other less expensive but just as energy-saving or water-saving efficient options that don’t allow them to earn credit, can impede an operator’s pursuit of LEED “The Council has recognized that, and they’re trying to overcome those issues,” Soucie says.

Tony Clevenger, president of Clevenger Associates in Pallyup, Wash., mentions another area that could use additional attention: more efficient hood systems. “Hood technology is another piece of the LEED puzzle that hasn’t seemed to find its way into the requirements yet,” Clevenger says. “There should be LEED points for reducing grease and air flows because it impacts air quality, energy use and the environment.

“Reducing air flows in kitchens is so important because of the cost of conditioning and tempering the grease as well as the effect the emissions have on the environment,” Clevenger adds. “They are not new, but UV hoods are the best for taking grease out of the air and also reducing the amount of air that’s exhausted.”

Clevenger says a number of hood manufacturers and other industry professionals have been huddling together to make hood systems a bigger part of LEED. “LEED got started and it just exploded,” according to Soucie. “But just like any other organization first starting out, there are growing pains. At the same time, the Council doesn’t want to stop the momentum they’ve gained since rolling out new LEED programs.”

At any rate, Soucie says, the LEED program in place is better than nothing. “I’d rather a LEED program be 75 percent successful, than not have it at all,” he says. Moving forward, he says, it’ll be important for the Council to get industries other than just construction involved, and that of course includes foodservice.