MRV Architects is the designer, owner and soon-to-be primary tenant of what had been a physician's office on Old Glacier Highway in the capital city.

“We were thinking it was kind of a, ÔYou might as well practice what you preach,' kind of deal,” said Paul Voelckers, a principle of the 55-year-old planning and design firm.

The LEED, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, certification will take several weeks to finalize. It is offered by the U.S. Green Building Council, a national private nonprofit group with 11,000 member organizations from all sectors of the building industry.

LEED certification promotes construction methods and materials that are healthy, as well as environmentally conscious, and has become the nationally accepted benchmark for design, construction and operation of green buildings.

LEED certification ranges from silver to platinum, with categories for new or existing structures, commercial buildings, homes and neighborhood developments. In Alaska the year-old Cold Climate Housing Research Center on the University of Alaska Fairbanks campus was the first privately owned building to meet LEED standards. As of mid-October it had not yet completed the extensive documentation that is required, according to Lynn Barrett, USGBC Alaska chapter president and owner of Paragon Design Associates.

Juneau's newly named Evergreen Building is a 5,900-square-foot structure that was a one-story physician's office. It now features ground-floor offices and two apartments on a second floor.

Voelckers wasn't sure what the LEED certification was adding to the cost of his $1.5 million building, but said the rule of thumb is 2 percent to 3 percent. He said the cabinetry he ordered, constructed from materials that do not emit formaldehyde, cost 15 percent more than other standard fixtures.

Whatever the expense, it must be documented and reviewed by a third party approved by the USGBC. “It's a program that's based on proving out rather than taking people's word for it. It's focused on what you do rather than what you say you're going to do,” he said. “You need to spend serious money, thousands of dollars at the minimum, for somebody to go through and track your building.”

Beside obvious features, such as insulation, low-flow toilets, heat recovery systems and energy efficient lighting, the LEED program also awards points for low-emitting materials, including carpeting and flooring, wall paneling and even the adhesives used in construction.

Using all-natural materials doesn't necessarily gain more points unless the product is also easily renewable under the program's scoring for sustainability. Building on an existing site instead of a newly cleared location, and proximity to public transportation, among other criteria, make sure urban and renovation projects are compared equally with new structures.

The Homer City Museum and Denali National Park visitor center are the only other LEED-certified buildings in Alaska. The Anchorage Museum is going for the green label as part of its renovation, and the multi-story JL Tower, a commercial building under construction in Anchorage, is among 10 ongoing projects in the state that are seeking some level of certification, Barrett said.

Green construction is on the verge of broad acceptance by Alaska's building and design industry, Barrett said.

“We still have a lot of buy-in that needs to be done by people here in Alaska to understand that even though there might be a small amount of additional upfront costs, it's the down stream savings that people need to realize they're going to benefit from,” she said.

The USGBC is in the midst of a nationwide review of previously certified buildings to document the energy savings that increase the value of LEED construction as energy and health costs rise.

“Probably 15 months to three years is generally the range that any additional upfront costs we're seeing are paid back,” Barrett said. As energy costs continue to rise payback time shrinks, she added.

The Alaska chapter has been invited to join the Cascadia Green Building Council, which includes Washington, Oregon and British Columbia.