High ceilings, natural lighting and cork flooring may appear to simply be the trappings of the posh Ross School of Business. However, those pleasing aesthetics serve a different purpose — to uphold the University’s commitment to sustainable building practices.

Despite formalizing its commitment to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design only a year ago, the University is home to several LEED certified buildings that are adhering to more environmentally sustainable practices. The Ross School of Business, the Samuel T. Dana Building and the newly-opened C.S. Mott Children’s and Von Voigtlander Women’s Hospital are among the first LEED certified buildings on campus.

The U.S. Green Building Council oversees the LEED program, with guidelines that provide a framework for a host of building types and projects. LEED certification requires the use of recyclable and sustainable materials in the building process, water and energy conservation, avoiding harsh or poisonous chemicals in the construction and maintenance of the building, and the creation of a positive atmosphere for those who will occupy the building.

Terry Alexander, executive director of the Office of Campus Sustainability, said the first building on campus to achieve LEED certification was the Dana building, fittingly the home of the School of Natural Resources and Environment, but the University formally adopted LEED last January as a standard for all new large-scale construction projects.

“That was an actual formal decision by the Environmental Sustainability Executive Council that (University) President (Mary Sue) Coleman chairs to adopt LEED as a design policy for the campus,” Alexander said. “At this time it’s all new non-clinical, non-medical buildings over $10 million (must be LEED certified).”

Along with implementing LEED standards, USGBC also evaluates buildings after their construction to ensure observance of the guidelines.

According to Jaime Van Mourik, director of higher education for USGBC, LEED standards strive not only for energy efficiency, but also for the use of sustainable materials. Van Mourik said that while the first sustainability push in the 1970s focused almost solely on energy conservation, the focus was too narrow, which led to the creation of the LEED standards in 2000.

“At this time, higher education is actually the leading market sector of all the different market sectors …” Van Mourik said. “There are over 4,700 LEED registered and certified (higher-education related) projects in the nation. You could think of one project per campus.”

The USGBC’s ultimate goal is to convert all existing buildings and implement LEED standards for new construction to create a sustainable building model for the nation.

“We say that within a generation everybody will be living, working, playing, doing anything and everything in a green building,” Van Mourik said.

Van Mourik added that the costs and difficulty of working with LEED standards has decreased dramatically over the years, as the market has adopted the standards and manufacturers have begun producing special LEED products.

“When the LEED building system launched in 2000, the concept of green building was still very new.” Van Mourik said. “We’ve seen quite the transformation in the way the industry is working, professionals are being trained and what manufacturers are doing. To date, we have over 175,000 LEED accredited professionals across the globe.”

Alexander added that adopting LEED practices costs about 4 percent more in building costs than using non-LEED materials and standards. Several other buildings on campus would probably qualify for LEED certification, but the University has not formally pursued the certification process, he said.

“Not everything you do for LEED has an actual payback to it.” Alexander said.