As companies learn more about optimizing their office spaces, LEED certification has become a must-have. It's a prestigious certification, and it’s important that companies can do what they can to optimize their footprint by minimizing carbon emissions from cars and optimizing their space while still balancing the needs of their company, customers, and employees.
LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certifications have use in determining how to rate green buildings. Certified buildings save money, lower carbon emissions, and improve efficiency, creating a healthier place for everyone. To achieve LEED certification, buildings earn points by adhering to prerequisites and earning credits or points. A building must have a minimum of 40 points to be considered Certified, with a sliding scale upwards through Silver (50-59 points), Gold (60-79 points), and Platinum (80+ points).
Parkable is proud to have effective solutions to reduce carbon footprints for companies seeking LEED certifications, as well as those with LEED certifications that are seeking to streamline their operations further.
In LEED certification, adhering to the parking requirements can give you 1 point toward your LEED certification. This is through three options that all minimize environmental harm from automobile dependence, land consumption, and rainwater runoff.
All local codes have a minimum requirement for parking capacity. To qualify for No Parking or Reduced Parking, buildings must not exceed the minimum local code requirements.
Another option is to provide parking capacity 30% below the base ratios for parking spaces by building type. Buildings with no off-street parking meet the requirement.
Companies looking for LEED certification can offer dedicated parking for carshare vehicles. At least 1% of the total parking spaces must be reserved for carshare vehicles. Buildings with less than 100 parking spaces must provide at least 1 carshare parking space.
The third option is for parking to be sold separately from all property sales or leases. This takes responsibility for these parking spaces from the building. However, when it comes to owner-occupied spaces, they must not provide free or subsidized parking for employees. Instead, companies may implement a daily parking fee, which can be equal to or greater than a daily roundtrip on municipal public transit.
Companies with LEED Certifications
There are 10 companies with LEED certifications, although some of them have accumulated many certifications for their different buildings. This shows that these companies have found ways to streamline the process of ensuring their buildings fit the requirements for LEED certification.
What These Companies Have in Common
These companies have a reduced amount of parking space available to them, in line with the LEED certification requirements. With 30% fewer parking spaces, these companies need to find innovative and effective ways of managing their available parking spaces. Parkable would help these companies optimize their use of space through more efficient carshare booking, EV chargers, and flexible payment systems for paid parking (including daily, weekly, or monthly).
Efficient Use of Space
Parkable makes the efficient use of space easier than ever before by allowing employees to reserve spaces, ensuring there are always enough based on who will be in the office in a hybrid work environment. With 30% less parking, this efficient use of space is crucial.
Parkable parking management systems make the organization of parking spaces easier and reduce carbon emissions from cars. Employees will know whether or not they have a parking space before even leaving home, which can save them meaningless drives if they don't have a parking space. By allowing employees to reserve their spaces ahead of time, they know exactly where they can park and can drive directly there. No more driving around the block repeatedly, idling as they try to find a parking space.
Parking management systems with an additional electric vehicle (EV) charger management option give companies a great way to recover costs while promoting green alternatives. With easy payment and billing options, reap benefits without adding extra work. Providing EV charging stations with easy-to-use and intuitive payment options is a great way to reduce carbon emissions from cars.
Give employees an increased ability to know exactly how much parking is available at the office. By knowing whether or not they’ll be able to find a parking space, you increase their incentives to organize carpooling options, which saves parking spaces and reduces carbon emissions from cars.
By leveraging occupancy data reporting, you can operate other building efficiency measures, such as the floor footprint, at a higher efficiency. You get an increased level of information without increased effort to go with it. Information from parking management systems can be used to increase efficiency in various other spaces.
Creating ways to recover costs while simultaneously fitting within the LEED certification requirements requires a strong and simple method of collecting payments for parking spaces. With flexible payment methods that can be done in various ways (even through mobile payments), you streamline employees' experience while taking weight off of admin.
Parkable understands how important LEED certification is and is committed to helping organizations get closer to fitting the requirements while thriving within those requirements. With various ways to optimize parking, Parkable is proud to have the solutions to your parking certification needs.
For more details on how we can help you get the most out of your LEED certification parking requirements, talk to Parkable.
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