As the world continues to shift towards sustainability and an environmentally-conscious mindset, it’s important that you and your business shifts with it.
Not only do you get to experience the endless benefits of making the world a better place, but there is also actually a direct and tangible benefit to your business’ bottom line.
Do I have your attention yet?
Then let me introduce you to the most popular and widely-used green building rating system in the world, LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Desing).
LEED is a government-created certification that just about all buildings, communities, and home-project types can achieve in these key areas:
- Location and transportation
- Sustainable site development
- Water savings
- Energy efficiency
- Materials selection
- Indoor environmental quality
But how exactly can you achieve certification in the above key areas and, more importantly, is there an easier path to LEED certification?
The Shortcut To LEED Certification
Each LEED rating system is made up of prerequisites (required elements) and credits (optional elements). Additionally, there are 4 potential certification levels: certified, silver, gold, and platinum.
There are several ways that you and your business can obtain one of these LEED certifications, but there is actually an intuitive and simple shortcut that you can take.
The shortcut to LEED certification is automated shades.
But, there is a small catch: you can’t use just any automated shades.
Traditional automated shades actually contribute to waste unless you are specifically working on a brand new construction.
So what is the true shortcut then?
I’ll happily tell you! But first, let’s have a closer look at why you should aim to achieve LEED certification in the first place.
Why You Should Get LEED Certified
Since LEED was introduced in 1998, it has helped countless developers and business owners drastically reduce carbon emissions, reduce waste, and conserve both water and energy.
The United States Green Building Council (USGBC) sponsors the LEED program and have clearly highlighted the benefits:
- Faster lease-up rates. “LEED buildings have faster lease-up rates…” – USGBC
- Tax rebates. “…and may qualify for a host of incentives like tax rebates…” – USGBC
- Zoning allowances. “…and zoning allowances.” – USGBC
- Higher property values. “Not to mention they retain higher property values.” – USGBC
Additionally, a LEED-certified house or building means that you can promote lower insurance premiums for building owners and the increased likelihood of the building’s value increasing more over time compared to non-certified buildings.
With LEED certification, you can get better occupants, faster, and at a higher price.
Now that we are clear on the benefits, let’s shift our focus back to the true shortcut to LEED certification.
LEED-Certification with Next-Generation Automated Shades
We previously mentioned that automated shades is a great way to achieve LEED certification. This comes down to two main reasons:
- Daylight harvesting control
- Daylight autonomy
Daylight harvesting control reduces interior artificial lighting when natural daylight is available. This reduces energy dependence and can contribute toward LEED credits in several new construction categories.
Daylight autonomy is the specific amount of time that daylight levels surpass target illuminance in a building and can also contribute to LEED points.
However, replacing the window shades in a building costs both time and money.
This is why we created RYSE SmartShades, the next generation of automated shades, that allow you to automate the window shades that your building already has installed.
You get the benefits of automated shades and LEED certification without negatively contributing to environmental waste.
More specifically, SmartShades can contribute to earning up to 15 out of the possible 110 LEED NC v4 points, within the following categories:
| Category | Points |
|---|---|
LIGHT POLLUTION REDUCTION (SUSTAINABLE SITES CREDIT 8) To minimize light trespass from the building and site, reduce sky-glow to increase night sky access, improve nighttime visibility through glare reduction and reduce development the impact from lighting on nocturnal environments. | 1 |
ENERGY & ATMOSPHERE (CREDIT 1) To achieve increasing levels of energy performance beyond the prerequisite standard to reduce environmental and economic impacts associated with excessive energy use. | 4 – 11 |
CONTROLLABILITY OF SYSTEMS – THERMAL COMFORT (INDOOR ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY CREDIT 6.2) To provide a high level of thermal comfort system control by individual occupants or groups in multi-occupant spaces (e.g. classrooms or conference areas) and promote their productivity, comfort, and well-being. | 1 |
DAYLIGHT & VIEWS – DAYLIGHT: VIEWS FOR 75% OF THE SPACE (INDOOR ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY CREDIT 8.1) To provide building occupants with a connection between indoor spaces and the outdoors through the introduction of daylight and views into the regularly occupied areas of the building. | 1 |
DAYLIGHT & VIEWS – DAYLIGHT: VIEWS FOR 90% OF THE SPACE (INDOOR ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY CREDIT 8.2) To provide building occupants a connection to the outdoors through the introduction of daylight and views into the regularly occupied areas of the building. | 1 |
To learn more about how you can achieve LEED Certification with SmartShade, learn how you can invest in RYSE today.
Become An Investor in RYSE, Inc.
Our vision is to put an RYSE product on every window shade. We want people to think of RYSE when they think of smart shades.
RYSE SmartShade, being an automated solution, just makes life easier – everything is done for you, so you can maintain a comfortable lifestyle. For example, you can have your shades open every morning at 8 AM to help you wake up and allow that morning light to brighten up your morning. Or, if you’re sitting on the sofa for an afternoon movie, you can easily tell Google or Alexa to lower the shades to prevent glare. It just makes life more comfortable and easy.
Investors, join our movement and get involved by investing in RYSE today:
