LEED Platinum Parking Garages

It seems that every proposed parking garage project I see, is touting itself as being LEED Platinum.

I have no real problem with parking garages, and I have no real beef with the U.S. Green Building Council (who developed the LEED rating system), but parking garages must not have crossed their minds when the put together the system.

I am not talking about the oxymoronic notion of a parking garage being green. I am talking about the idea that the LEED ratings are unintentionally weighted for parking garages.

The typical public garage in Chicago is:
Made of concrete and steel.
Built with no heat or air conditioning.
Has open sides.
Has a concrete roof.
Has no paint or carpeting.
Has little or no plumbing.
Poorly lit.
Built in an area of moderately high density.
Built in an area near to shopping, libraries, offices etc.

All of these attributes are good for points in the LEED system.
Steel is 75% recycled.
Concrete is produced locally.
No air conditioning means no CFCs.
Open sides provide natural light and ventilation.
Concrete roofs have enough reflectivity to fight the heat island effect.

You get the picture.

Virtually every above ground parking garage in Chicago has enough points to be LEED Certified. They could push themselves into a Gold Rating by the simple expedients of getting more efficient light fixtures and using a rain barrel to water the parkway trees.

Getting a Platinum rating on new garage construction would cost pocket change.

Don’t get suckered in by this hype.

Paul K. Dickman