Employee productivity is as much as 15 percent higher. Retail sales increase by as much as 30 percent. Student test scores rise as high as 25 percent. Energy and maintenance costs are lower. Healthier indoor and outdoor environments reduce risk and support our quality of life. First costs are competitive.

Why doesn't this describe the expected outcome when we move into a new building? Because most of our buildings today are fundamentally designed and constructed in the way they were a year or a decade ago.

If you wanted a "high performance" or an environmentally friendly "green" building, how would you know when you had one? The U.S. Green Building Council designed the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Rating System to answer this question. The USGBC rovides design tools and encourages the use of environmentally friendly strategies. It also seeks to avoid "greenwashing" by providing both an objective standard and a third-party review.

The LEED Rating System awards credits for documented green features in six main categories: sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials and resources, indoor environmental quality, and innovation and design process. Buildings achieve Certified, Silver, Gold or Platinum Ratings depending on how many credits are awarded.

What stands between last year's "building as usual" and today's high performance building? The main issues are our habits of thinking and the learning curve.

Habits of thinking: 'There isn't a problem'

One habit of thinking that discourages the design of green buildings is the feeling that there is not a problem that needs fixing. In many places, our built and unbuilt environments have a very nice appearance. The waste of resources and poor indoor environments are not so obvious.

Yet, there is also a groundswell of professionals quietly working to include environmental consciousness in their designs, looking for projects and owners who are educated enough to value it in their buildings.

For example, the city of San Diego now requires that new city projects achieve a LEED Silver Rating. The city deserves credit for being willing to take the initiative and demand higher performance from the buildings they will be occupying tomorrow. And this highlights the first step: Simply making the commitment.

Habits of thinking: Piece by piece

Once the commitment is made, the second habit of thinking that gets in the way is of achieving high performance buildings is "component thinking." One often used way of managing a complex project is to split the team into pieces or components, each separately addressing issues such as site management, building features and structural, plumbing, mechanical and lighting systems. The intention is less to integrate them than to stay out of each other's way. This works very well for many purposes; unfortunately, it also tends to produce low-performance buildings.

The learning curve: Integration

"Integration" is a buzzword, but what does it mean? Achieving higher energy efficiency is the area I am most familiar with, and it provides some good examples.

If a typical building has a good lighting system and some improvements in mechanical efficiency, then no extra integration between the architect, lighting or mechanical designers is necessary to achieve 10 percent to 15 percent better than the current Title 24 minimum energy code. However, creating a high performance building, with efficiencies 20 percent to 40 percent better than code, requires the integration of features.

For example, consider how to design the effective use of natural daylighting. Glazing orientation, height and width, shading strategies, specifications, interior layouts, ceiling heights and toplighting options all contribute to how much useable daylight enters the space.

The lighting designer would choose fixture layouts and fixture types to coordinate with the daylighting zones, and with automatic controls. These goals should be identified in the Basis of Design so that all of the design elements support the outcome.

When the broad use of daylighting is introduced later in design, it is not only too late to make adjustments in the other related systems without adding to their costs, but savings in related systems may also be lost.

Many LEED credits directly interact with energy efficiency features. For example, by incorporating natural daylighting, the project will probably also qualify for Daylighting and Views Credits. Cool Roofs reduce energy use, and also gain a Reducing Heat Island Credit in the Sustainable Sites category. Appropriate ventilation and occupant control of windows and lights provide other credits in the Indoor Environmental Quality category.

While about one third of the available credits are in some way related to the energy features of the project, other issues are important as well. Like energy features, these issues carry many opportunities to integrate and synergize.

Landscaping choices can reduce both the heat island effect and irrigation needs. Materials can be chosen which support several credits simultaneously: low Volatile Organic Compounds (VOC), recycled content and being manufactured within 500 miles of the project.

The learning curve: LEED processes and credit content

With more than 30 types of credits, there is definitely some learning necessary to apply the concepts of green design and to understand the details of LEED credit content and documentation. The commitment of the owner and the design team is critical in moving up the learning curve.

Many teams have found that designating someone as the "green champion" assists the integration process and keeps the team focused on the green goals of the overall project.

Starting with a simpler project and lower certification goals is a good way to begin learning about the LEED process and credit content. As designers, builders and teams gain experience, a higher bar can be reached at a lower cost.

What's next?

Today, buildings consume 65 percent of our country's electricity, represent 30 percent of our greenhouse gas emissions, drink 12 percent of our potable water, and use up 40 percent of the world's raw materials. San Diego's population is projected to have 1 million more people by 2020, and worldwide population also continues rising.

What is sustainable? You do the math.

Aspects of green design are increasingly moving into the mainstream. LEED is based on the use of existing standards and technologies. At the same time, it recognizes and expects that technologies and strategies will continue to get better. Eventually, we may enjoy buildings that have very low environmental impacts, or even provide a net benefit of regenerating resources. For now, whether buildings become certified or not, we have the information and tools to make them healthier and more efficient.

Brummitt is owner of Brummitt Energy Associates Inc., consulting for highly energy efficient buildings. She is a LEED Accredited Professional, and a founding member of the San Diego Chapter of the US Green Building Council.