ASHRAE 189.1

I recently read an article discussing ASHRAE 189.1 and its many requirements. At first I thought, "not a another green building standard" but as I dug into it further I discovered that it was a practical guide for implementing many of the requirements of LEED V3.0. One big advantage I saw was its prescriptive language and how if followed could yield energy savings around 30% over a building designed to ASHRAE 90.1. Apparently ASHRAE worked with USGBC in evaluating the results of energy saving measures provided through LEED building case studies and condensed them into a standard written like a code. I for one welcome the standard and look forward to using it in my practice. I found the following article helpful in learning more: http://www.eco-structure.com/green-standards/natural-progression.aspx