What IS LEED?

What is LEED?  What is LEED Certified?  You might have seen buildings bragging that they are "LEED Certified Buildings", but what does that even mean?!

Chances are, if you are a Property Manager, you know all about LEED Certification, but let's take the mystery out of it for the rest of us.

The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Green Building Rating System, call LEED for short, was created in 2000 by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), an independent, non-profit organization made up of architects, contractors, developers, building owners, government agencies, and others.  The council developed LEED to stimulate the use of environmentally and socially sound building practices by providing and independent, third-party verification.

Energy efficiency is probably the best-known aspect of green building but LEED focuses on four other areas:  sustainable site development, water savings, materials selection and indoor environmental quality.

           

“Green building is about a lot more than energy efficiency, it’s everything efficiency.”

For instance, using sealants that don’t emit toxic fumes contributes to indoor environmental quality, and using lumber harvested from sustainably managed forests counts toward materials selection.

LEED also isn’t only for new construction.  LEED for Existing Buildings assesses operations and maintenance to help owners get the most from their existing property.  LEED for Commercial Interiors provides a program for tenants who want to green their rented space, but don’t have control over the whole building, while LEED for Core and Shell applies to building owners who don’t control the interiors of rented spaces.  Also available are LEED programs tailored to individual facility needs:  schools, health care, retail and homes.

           

Each program has its own checklist of criteria that contribute to certification.  Points are awarded for each standard that is met, and certification is awarded if enough points are earned.  For the new construction program, 26 points ears the basic certified level, 33 earns silver, 39 earns gold and 52 earns platinum.  The maximum number of points a project can earn is 69.  Learn more about the classifications here.

The first step toward certification is to register a project with the USGBC.  Registration for new construction cost $450 for USGBC members and $600 for non-members, and it provides access to a number of tools for guiding design and construction.  The fee for certification of the finished building varies with the size of the project, but averages $2,000.

Around the world, 1,422 projects have earned LEED certification, according to the USGBC (2008).