Jerry Yudelson, green building consultant and author of 10 green building books, says that companies need to respond to the recession by accelerating the training of building industry professionals in the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED system. Yudelson says whether people go on to take the national exam to become a LEED Accredited Professional doesn't matter. "Green building is here to stay and it's cost-effective to get everyone trained who touches a building project in any way," he said.
"Unless you learn how the LEED certification system works, you're going to be spending a lot of money on consultants and on extra design and construction services," declares Yudelson, principal of Yudelson Associates, the leading green building consulting firm. "Once your associates learn the LEED system, they will be able to see how to economize on these so-called 'soft costs'," he claims. "Virtually every kind of builder, real estate developer, or engineer can save money by getting their people to do more of the work that would otherwise be done by specialized (and expensive) outside consultants."
According to Yudelson, residential and retail developers, building owners, contractors and others are all coming to his firm to provide customized training in the use of the LEED system. "We can take the LEED rating system, whether for new buildings or greening existing buildings, and make it relevant to the type of business that our client is in."
Yudelson is one of the ten original trainers in the LEED system, designated in 2001 by the U.S. Green Building Council to accelerate the green building revolution by providing LEED Technical Review workshops all across the country. Over the past eight years, he has personally trained more than 3,500 building industry professionals in the intricacies of the LEED system and helped prepare them to pass the LEED AP Exam.
More recently, Yudelson Associates has provided customized LEED training to professionals at top firms engaged in building management and in residential and retail real estate development. "I can see the scales drop from their eyes," he said, "when they realize that what looks like a very arcane system is, in fact, practical, understandable and now accessible to them. In fact, they learn that the LEED system fills a very important role in the building industry."
"People wonder, what if I train my people at my expense and they leave the firm?" said Yudelson. "I ask them, what if you don't train them, and they stay? Will you better off?"
More information about Yudelson Associates LEED Training Services, including an introductory video can be found at: http://www.greenbuildconsult.com/site/info/leed-training-services/
About Yudelson Associates
Yudelson Associates is a leading international firm in sustainability planning and green building consulting. The founder, Jerry Yudelson, is widely acknowledged as one of the nation's leading experts on green building and green development. He is the author of ten green building books and serves as Research Scholar for Real Estate Sustainability for the International Council of Shopping Centers, a 70,000-member international trade organization. He is a frequent green building speaker at industry and professional conferences and chairs the industry's largest annual show, Greenbuild.
For more information about Yudelson Associates please visit: http://www.greenbuildconsult.com.
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