Wednesday marks an important day in UTA’s history: the opening of the College Park Center. The $78 million facility boasts many sustainable and environmentally-friendly designs, from using water and energy efficient features to building with local materials, according to its website.

Based on these green features, the university expects the U.S. Green Building Council will award the building with a Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, Gold certification.

The U.S. Green Building Council uses a 110-point rating system based on seven categories to measure the environmental impact and societal benefits of a building’s design, construction, operation and maintenance. The points from these categories all together add up to 110 points. The council will evaluate the College Park Center after the building has been operational for a few months.

Participating in the LEED program shows UTA aims to expand responsibly and design new buildings, while still taking the environment and our health into account. However, the university should advertise and judge the sustainability of the College Park Center not by the LEED certification, which involves a complicated number system that can be easily misunderstood, but by specifics that demonstrate exactly what sustainable features the building has and the direct environmental and human impacts of those features. Instead of advertising to the campus community a possibly misunderstood grade or number, UTA could highlight key features and the direct effect it will have on students’ lives, educating them along the way.

To receive certification, a project first must meet the minimum requirements to be eligible for a rating. Buildings then receive a certification of certified, silver, gold or platinum. Certified is 40-49 points, silver 50-59, gold 60-79 and platinum 80+. Each of seven categories — sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials and resources, indoor environmental quality, innovation in design and regional priority — has prerequisites and then points to determine the level of certification.

However, judging the sustainability of the College Park Center from this projected LEED Gold certification has some pitfalls.

First, some possible loopholes can be found in the LEED rating system. Because seven different categories make up the 110-point rating system, a building could receive a high certification, but fall short in one or more categories. For example, a building could receive a zero in the category Water Efficiency, which is out of 10 points, but still receive the highest rating, a Platinum certification, which only requires an 80 point total.

Also, the rating itself disappoints. The university expects to receive a Gold certification for the building, which sounds like the highest rating possible. However, out of the 110 points, a gold rating only requires 60-79 points. In class, a student would receive a D or a C with this score.

Platinum, the highest LEED rating, requires a point score of 80 or higher. Therefore, the rating, though commendable, still lacked luster. One reason behind UTA’s rating could be financial. Many sustainable designs often cost more money up front. With the building’s cost at $78 million, the financial cost of further sustainable innovations may have come into play.

While I commend the university’s commitment to improving sustainability on campus, the university should not base its level of sustainable success on this potentially-flawed rating system.

Asha Sharma is a sustainability blogger for The Shorthorn