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These LEED certification software tools are scaled especially for governments, universities, developers and others who build and manage multiple facilities. One will help these entities feature their LEED efforts, while the other helps them effectively manage LEED certifications across numerous projects.
Interactive LEED Checklist
There is an increasing interest in showcasing the efforts people are going to when they erect LEED-certified buildings. One company, Quality Attributes Software, creates websites, which also are available on touch-screen kiosks, so visitors to buildings, and those who use them, can discover the green aspects of the building. Several modules showcase various green characteristics. One is an interactive LEED checklist that provides information about the measures taken in order to achieve LEED certification. With the software, viewers can see each LEED category credit received and individually select them to see more detailed information and pictures. QAS builds the website to the customer’s specifications and will also install the kiosk, the vendor said.
ARCHIBUS Green Building module
To help companies handle the environmental aspects associated with real estate Archibus Solution Center Environment + Sustainability Services (ASC) offers seven modules under its Total Environmental Asset Management Systems (TEAMS). The Green Building module, for example is LEED certification tracking and recording software that can be used for existing buildings and new construction. Like the other modules in the TEAMS lineup, this Web-based application runs on ARCHIBUS’ Web Central platform, which distributes the ARCHIBUS apps in use by a company so information is shared by the users and the applications. (ARCHIBUS, it should be pointed out, is a facilities management software and Web services supplier.)
According to George MacBeth, professional services manager for ASC, all the building and site information that a company has available in its main ARCHIBUS application is seamlessly populated in the Green Building module. Once a person signs in and selects the Green Building tab, the main tasks available in this LEED certification software include the following:
- Defining the green building standards;
- Defining the certification levels;
- Defining the categories; and
- Defining the credits.
There are also opportunities to upload documents and to access a certification log where all documents and a running tally of certification activities are available. In a typical project people would figure their own LEED score and then when the certifying authority’s results come back those are entered along with any notes. That way the certification requester can compare credits he has assessed, against the credits actually issued, and then devise strategies to compensate.
Other features of this LEED certification software include a host of building environmental assessments such as calculating a building’s carbon footprint and tracking a building’s utility use. Built into the application is a geo-spatial tool users can use to locate a building on a satellite map and, by hovering their mouse pointer over the building, can view green certification information and much more.
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