Protests at Greenbuild!
Here is a first: Protesters at Greenbuild! The annual green building conference and expo kicked off today in Arizona. A few protesters were outside of the convention center, one holding a sign that read “USGBC Certifies Smoking Casinos.” While I wasn’t able to question the protesters directly, my understanding is that they are referring to the newly certified ARIA and Vdara in the CityCenter casino in Las Vegas. The LEED Gold buildings allow smoking on the casino floor.
Technically, the Aria and Vdara have 2 Gold Certifications for the hotel and conference center respectively. The casino itself was excluded from the LEED submission. (I wonder if the protesters know this). Even if the casino area was included, smoking could be allowed in designated areas with measures taken to avoid second-hand smoke in other areas according to EQ Prerequisite 2: Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS) Control .
USGBC and GBCI allow project teams to define their buildings and sites in any way they choose, as long as the definition of site boundaries and building extents are used consistently throughout all credits. This is a crucial distinction, and a very important one. I myself am currently working on 4 LEED-CS registered projects on one campus. There is some game playing here, as one definition of a site boundary or building extents may be more advantageous for LEED certification than another. In the case of the ARIA, the casino floor is excluded from the LEED submission, a move that is completely legitimate, and yet somewhat misleading to visitors and employees. The building is advertised as a green building, and the company website proudly describes the LEED Gold certification, without any mention of the exclusion. Employees are taking issue with the green billing, and rightly so given that they will be exposed to second-hand smoke.
With over-the-top casino finishes, excess lighting, and of course, smoking on the casino floor, it is no wonder that the area was excluded. Imagine however a casino that does include the gambling floor: It could feature pleasant daylit spaces, healthier indoor air quality, green food and beverage services, innovative and energy efficient equipment for both building services as well as gambling, and no second-hand smoke for visitors or employees.
If any Greenbuild attendees or protesters want to chime in or provide more info, please share.
Erin Nunes Cooper, AIA, LEED AP is an Architect, Green Building Consultant, and the owner of 
Tony Gale of Starbucks just said at Greenbuild that they will not be able to LEED certify their kiosks on casino floors. He wants to make it clear to patrons that smoking in the casinos is the reason why LEED certification won’t be possible for the kiosks.
I believe the Minimum Program Requirements in the latest version of LEED (2009) will render this approach to certification invalid. The MPR’s state that “LEED projects must include the new, ground-up design and construction, or major renovation, of at least one building in its ENTIRETY (emphasis added).”
Thanks Dave. Yes, I do believe that your are correct, and that the LEED 2009 MPR would not allow the exclusion. GBCI has the current version of the MPRs here: http://www.gbci.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CMSPageID=130
#2 would prohibit excluding a portion of the building, and #3 requires a reasonable site boundary and prohibits “gerrymandering” of the LEED project boundary. (I love that the electoral term “gerrymandering” is used here. Perfect!)
Also see this article that describes Vdara as non-gambling and smoke free: http://www.hotel-online.com/News/PR2009_3rd/Sep09_AriaLEED.html
There were other protesters too! There was a guy outside of Chase Field with a sign that read “Gore Gets Rich Off of Green Lies” or something like that. There was also a woman with a tamborine, but I wasn’t sure if she was protesting or trying to be disscovered as a street musician.