Leadership In Energy And Environmental Design
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Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a green building certification program used worldwide. Developed by the non-profit
U.S. Green Building Council The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), co-founded by Mike Italiano, David Gottfried and Rick Fedrizzi in 1993, is a private 501(c)3, membership-based non-profit organization that promotes sustainability in building design, construction, and op ...
(USGBC), it includes a set of rating systems for the design, construction, operation, and maintenance of
green buildings Green building (also known as green construction or sustainable building) refers to both a structure and the application of processes that are environmentally responsible and resource-efficient throughout a building's life-cycle: from plannin ...
, homes, and neighborhoods, which aims to help building owners and operators be
environmentally responsible Ecosophy or ecophilosophy (a portmanteau of ecological philosophy) is a philosophy of ecological harmony or equilibrium. The term was coined by the French post-structuralist philosopher and psychoanalyst Félix Guattari and the Norwegian father ...
and use resources efficiently. By 2015, there were over 80,000 LEED-certified buildings and over 100,000 LEED-accredited professionals. Most LEED-certified buildings are located in major U.S. metropolises. LEED Canada has developed a separate rating system adapted to the Canadian climate and regulations. Some U.S. federal agencies, state and local governments require or reward LEED certification. This can include tax credits, zoning allowances, reduced fees, and expedited permitting. Studies have found that for-rent LEED office spaces generally have higher rents and occupancy rates and lower capitalization rates. LEED is a design tool rather than a performance-measurement tool and focuses on energy modeling rather than actual energy consumption. It lacks climate specificity, and has been criticized for a point system that can encourage inappropriate design choices and make energy conservation the weakest part of the evaluation. It has also been criticized for the phenomenon of "LEED brain" in which the public relations value of LEED certification drives the development of buildings.


History

Development of the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification program began in 1993, spearheaded by
Natural Resources Defense Council The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is a United States-based 501(c)(3) non-profit international environmental advocacy group, with its headquarters in New York City and offices in Washington D.C., San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Bo ...
(NRDC) senior scientist Robert K. Watson and supported by the
U.S. Green Building Council The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), co-founded by Mike Italiano, David Gottfried and Rick Fedrizzi in 1993, is a private 501(c)3, membership-based non-profit organization that promotes sustainability in building design, construction, and op ...
(USGBC). Among the contributors to the initial guidelines were J. D. Polk, co-founder of Solar Cells, Inc. (now
First Solar First Solar, Inc. is an American manufacturer of solar panels, and a provider of utility-scale PV power plants and supporting services that include finance, construction, maintenance and end-of-life panel recycling. First Solar uses rigid thi ...
), and solar-power advocate
Lawton Chiles Lawton Mainor Chiles Jr. (April 3, 1930 – December 12, 1998) was an American politician who served as the 41st governor of Florida from 1991 until his death in 1998. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served as a United State ...
, the Governor of Florida at the time. Watson led a broad-based consensus process for two decades, bringing together non-profit organizations, government agencies, architects, engineers, developers, builders, product manufacturers and other industry leaders. The USGBC Board of Directors was chaired by Steven Winter from 1999 to 2003. At that time, USGBC's Senior Vice President of LEED, Scot Horst, became chair of the LEED Steering Committee before joining USGBC staff. Early LEED committee members also included USGBC co-founder Mike Italiano, architects Bill Reed and Sandy Mendler, builders Gerard Heiber and Myron Kibbe, and engineer Richard Bourne. As interest in LEED grew, engineers Tom Paladino and Lynn Barker co-chaired the LEED technical committee, formed . From 1994 to 2015, LEED grew from one standard for new construction to a comprehensive system of interrelated standards covering aspects from the design and construction to the maintenance and operation of buildings. LEED also grew from six committee volunteers to an organization of 119,924 staff, volunteers and professionals. LEED standards have been applied to approximately 83,452 registered and certified LEED projects worldwide, covering around 13.8 billion square feet (1.28 billion square meters). Many U.S. federal agencies, states, and local governments require or reward LEED certification. the leading four states, based on certified square feet per capita were Illinois, Washington, Massachusetts, and Colorado. However, lumber, chemical and plastics trade groups have lobbied to weaken the application of LEED guidelines in several southern states. In 2013, the states of Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi effectively banned the use of LEED in new public buildings, in favor of other industry standards that the USGBC considers too lax. Unlike model building codes, such as the
International Building Code The International Building Code (IBC) is a model building code developed by the International Code Council (ICC). It has been adopted for use as a base code standard by most jurisdictions in the United States. The IBC addresses both health and saf ...
, only members of the USGBC and specific "in-house" committees may add to, subtract from, or edit the standard, subject to an internal review process. Proposals to modify the LEED standards are offered and publicly reviewed by USGBC's member organizations, which number almost 6660. USGBC's
Green Business Certification Inc. Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI) is an American organization that provides third-party credentialing and verification for several rating systems relating to the built environment. It was established as the Green Building Certification Inst ...
(GBCI) offers various accreditations to people who demonstrate knowledge of the LEED rating system, including LEED Accredited Professional (LEED AP), LEED Green Associate, and LEED Fellow. GBCI also certifies projects pursuing LEED.


Rating systems

LEED has evolved since 1998 to more accurately represent and incorporate emerging green building technologies. The pilot version, LEED New Construction (NC) v1.0, led to LEED NCv2.0, LEED NCv2.2 in 2005, LEED 2009 ( LEED v3) in 2009, and LEED v4 in November 2013. LEED 2009 was depreciated for new projects registered from October 31, 2016. LEED v4.1 was released on April 2, 2019. LEED also forms the basis for other sustainability rating systems such as the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an Independent agencies of the United States government, independent executive agency of the United States federal government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon pro ...
's (EPA) Labs21 and LEED Canada. The Australian Green Star is based on both LEED and the UK's Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Methodology (
BREEAM BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method), first published by the Building Research Establishment (BRE) in 1990, is the world's longest established method of assessing, rating, and certifying the sustainability of ...
).


LEED v3 (2009)

LEED 2009 encompasses ten rating systems for the design, construction and operation of buildings, homes and neighborhoods. Five overarching categories correspond to the specialties available under the LEED professional program. That suite consists of: *Green building design and construction (BD+C) – for new construction, core and shell, schools, retail spaces (new constructions and major renovations), and healthcare facilities *Green interior design and construction – for commercial and retail interiors *Green building operations and maintenance *Green neighborhood development *Green home design and construction LEED v3 aligned credits across all LEED rating systems, weighted by environmental priority. It reflects a continuous development process, with a revised third-party certification program and online resources. Under LEED 2009, an evaluated project scores points to a possible maximum of 100 across six categories:
sustainable sites Sustainable gardening includes the more specific sustainable landscapes, sustainable landscape design, sustainable landscaping, sustainable landscape architecture, resulting in sustainable sites. It comprises a disparate group of horticultural i ...
,
water efficiency Water efficiency is the practice of reducing water consumption by measuring the amount of water required for a particular purpose and is proportionate to the amount of essential water used.Vickers, Amy. “Water use and conservation." Amherst, MA ...
,
energy In physics, energy (from Ancient Greek: ἐνέργεια, ''enérgeia'', “activity”) is the quantitative property that is transferred to a body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of work and in the form of heat a ...
and
atmosphere An atmosphere () is a layer of gas or layers of gases that envelop a planet, and is held in place by the gravity of the planetary body. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A s ...
, materials and resources, indoor environment quality (IEQ) and design innovation. Each of these categories also includes mandatory requirements, which receive no points. Up to 10 additional points may be earned: 4 for regional priority credits and 6 for innovation in design. Additional performance categories for residences (LEED for Homes) recognize the importance of transportation access, open space, and outdoor physical activity outdoors, and the need for buildings and settlements to educate occupants. Buildings can qualify for four levels of certification: *Certified: 40–49 points *Silver: 50–59 points *Gold: 60–79 points *Platinum: 80 points and above The aim of LEED 2009 is to allocate points "based on the potential
environmental impact Environmental issues are effects of human activity on the biophysical environment, most often of which are harmful effects that cause environmental degradation. Environmental protection is the practice of protecting the natural environment on t ...
s and human benefits of each credit". These are weighed using the environmental impact categories of the EPA's Tools for the Reduction and Assessment of Chemical and Other Environmental Impacts (TRACI) and the environmental-impact weighting scheme developed by the
National Institute of Standards and Technology The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is an agency of the United States Department of Commerce whose mission is to promote American innovation and industrial competitiveness. NIST's activities are organized into physical s ...
(NIST). Prior to LEED 2009 evaluation and certification, a building must comply with environmental laws and regulations, occupancy scenarios, building permanence and pre-rating completion, site boundaries and area-to-site ratios. Its owner must share data on the building's energy and water use for five years after occupancy (for new construction) or date of certification (for existing buildings). The credit weighting process has the following steps: First, a collection of reference buildings are assessed to estimate the environmental impacts of similar buildings. NIST weightings are then applied to judge the relative importance of these impacts in each category. Data regarding actual impacts on environmental and human health are then used to assign points to individual categories and measures. This system results in a weighted average for each rating scheme based upon actual impacts and the relative importance of those impacts to human health and environmental quality. p. xii. The LEED council also appears to have assigned credit and measured weighting based upon the market implications of point allocation. From 2010, buildings can use carbon offsets to achieve green power credits for LEED-NC (new construction certification).


LEED v4 (2014)

For LEED BD+C v4 credit, the IEQ category addresses
thermal A thermal column (or thermal) is a rising mass of buoyant air, a convective current in the atmosphere, that transfers heat energy vertically. Thermals are created by the uneven heating of Earth's surface from solar radiation, and are an example ...
, visual, and acoustic comfort as well as
indoor air quality Indoor air quality (IAQ) is the air quality within and around buildings and structures. IAQ is known to affect the health, comfort, and well-being of building occupants. Poor indoor air quality has been linked to sick building syndrome, reduce ...
. Laboratory and field research have directly linked occupants' satisfaction and performance to the building's thermal conditions. Energy reduction goals can be supported while improving thermal satisfaction. For example, providing occupants control over the thermostat or operable windows allows for comfort across a wider range of temperatures.


LEED v4.1 (2019)

On April 2, 2019, the USGBC released LEED v4.1, a new version of the LEED green building program, designed for use with cities, communities and homes.


LEED Canada

In 2003, the
Canada Green Building Council The Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC) was created in 2003 to further the expansion of green building in Canada. Prior to the formation of the Council, Canada had participated in the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) through British ...
(CAGBC) received permission to create LEED Canada-NC v1.0, which was based upon LEED-NC 2.0. As of 2021, Canada ranked second in the world (not including the USA) in its number of LEED-certified projects and square feet of space. Buildings in Canada such as Winnipeg's Canadian Museum for Human Rights are LEED certified due to practices including the use of
rainwater harvesting Rainwater harvesting (RWH) is the collection and storage of rain, rather than allowing it to run off. Rainwater is collected from a roof-like surface and redirected to a tank, cistern, deep pit (well, shaft, or borehole), aquifer, or a reservoir ...
, green roofs, and natural lighting. As of March 18, 2022, the Canada Green Building Council took over direct oversight for LEED™ green building certification of projects in Canada, formerly done by GBCI Canada. CAGBC will continue to work with
Green Business Certification Inc. Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI) is an American organization that provides third-party credentialing and verification for several rating systems relating to the built environment. It was established as the Green Building Certification Inst ...
(GBCI) and USGBC while consolidating certification and credentialing for CAGBC's Zero Carbon Building Standards, LEED, TRUE, and Investor Ready Energy Efficiency (IREE).


Certification process

LEED certification is granted by the
Green Building Certification Institute Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI) is an American organization that provides third-party credentialing and verification for several rating systems relating to the built environment. It was established as the Green Building Certification Inst ...
(GBCI), which arranges third-party verification of a project's compliance with the LEED requirements. The certification process for design teams consists of the design application, under the purview of the architect and the engineer and documented in the official construction drawings, and the construction application, under the purview of the building contractor and documented during the construction and commissioning of the building. A fee is required to register the building, and to submit the design and construction applications. Total fees are assessed based on building area, ranging from a minimum of $2,900 to over $1 million for a large project. "Soft" costs – i.e., added costs to the building project to qualify for LEED certification – may range from 1% to 6% of the total project cost. The average cost increase was about 2%, or an extra $3–$5 per square foot. The application review and certification process is conducted through LEED Online, USGBC's web-based service. The GBCI also utilizes LEED Online to conduct their reviews.


LEED energy modeling

Applicants have the option of achieving credit points by building energy models. One model represents the building as designed, and a second model represents a baseline building in the same location, with the same geometry and occupancy. Depending on location (climate) and building size, the standard provides requirements for heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) system type, and wall and window definitions. This allows for a comparison with emphasis on factors that heavily influence energy consumption. The number of points achieved in this credit is proportional to the predicted energy savings. This method has been criticized for inaccurately predicting actual energy usage. The USGBC admits that "current information indicates that most buildings do not perform as well as design metrics indicate. As a result, building owners might not obtain the benefits promised."


LEED for Homes rating system

The process of the LEED for Homes rating system, available in the U.S., Canada and Sweden, differs significantly from the LEED NC rating system. LEED for Homes projects are low-rise residential and are required to work with either an American or a Canadian provider organization
and a green rater. The provider organization helps the project through the process while overseeing the green raters, individuals who conduct two mandatory site inspections: the thermal bypass inspection and the final inspection. Although LEED for Homes is typically viewed by the construction industry as a simpler rating system than LEED NC, the latter does not require an on-site inspection. The provider and rater assist in the certification process but do not themselves certify the project.


Performance

Research papers provide most of what is known about the performance and effectiveness of LEED in two credit category areas: energy and indoor environment quality (IEQ). In one study of 953 New York City office buildings, 21 LEED certified buildings collectively showed no energy savings compared with non-LEED buildings, although LEED Gold buildings "outperformed other NYC office buildings by 20%". IEQ-related studies provide two contrasting results: the first used occupant survey results in 65 LEED buildings and 79 non-LEED buildings and concluded that occupants of both groups had equal satisfaction with the building overall and with the workspace. The second IEQ study used occupant interviews and physical site measurements at 12 LEED buildings to report superior indoor environment performance compared with 12 similar non-certified buildings. Buildings certified under LEED do not have to prove energy or water efficiency in practice to receive LEED certification points, but instead LEED uses modeling software to predict future energy use based on intended use. This has led to criticism of LEED's ability to accurately determine the efficiency of buildings. The USGBC has noted that "Buildings have a poor track record for performing as predicted during design."


Energy performance research

In 2009, architectural scientist Guy Newsham (et al.) of the
National Research Council of Canada The National Research Council Canada (NRC; french: Conseil national de recherches Canada) is the primary national agency of the Government of Canada dedicated to science and technology research & development. It is the largest federal research ...
(NRC) analyzed a database of 100 LEED certified (v3 or earlier version) buildings. In this study, each building was paired with a conventional "twin" building within the Commercial Building Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS) database according to building type and occupancy. On average, LEED buildings consumed 18 to 39% less energy by floor area than the conventional buildings, although 28 to 35% of LEED-certified buildings used more energy. The paper found no correlation between the number of energy points achieved or LEED certification level and measured building performance. In 2009 physicist John Scofield published an article in response to Newsham et al., analyzing the same database of LEED buildings and arriving at different conclusions. Scofield criticized the earlier analysis for focusing on energy per floor area instead of a total energy consumption. Scofield considered source energy (accounting for energy losses during generation and transmission) as well as site energy, and used area-weighted energy use intensities (EUIs) (energy per unit area per year), when comparing buildings to account for the fact that larger buildings tend to have larger EUIs. Scofield concluded that, collectively, the LEED-certified buildings showed no significant source energy consumption savings or
greenhouse gas emission Greenhouse gas emissions from human activities strengthen the greenhouse effect, contributing to climate change. Most is carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels: coal, oil, and natural gas. The largest emitters include coal in China and ...
reductions when compared to non-LEED buildings, although they did consume 10–17% less site energy. In 2013 Scofield analyzed 21 LEED-certified buildings in New York City. He found that LEED-Gold buildings used 20% less source energy while Silver and Certified buildings used 11 to 15% more source energy, on average, than did their conventional counterparts. In 2014, architect Gwen Fuertes and engineer Stefano Schiavon developed the first study that analyzes
plug load Plug load is the energy used by products that are powered by means of an ordinary AC plug (e.g., 100, 115, or 230 V). This term generally excludes building energy that is attributed to major end uses (HVAC, lighting, water heating, etc.) Definitio ...
s using LEED-documented data from certified projects. The study compared plug load assumptions made by 92
energy modeling Energy modeling or energy system modeling is the process of building computer models of energy systems in order to analyze them. Such models often employ scenario analysis to investigate different assumptions about the technical and economic c ...
practitioners against
ASHRAE The American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE ) is an American professional association seeking to advance heating, ventilation, air conditioning and refrigeration The term refrigeration refers to the ...
and Title 24 requirements, and the evaluation of the plug load calculation methodology used by 660 LEED-CI and 429 LEED-NC certified projects. They found that energy modelers only considered the energy consumption of predictable plug loads, such as refrigerators, computers and monitors. Overall the results suggested a disconnection between assumptions in the models and the actual performance of buildings. Energy modeling might be a source of error during the LEED design phase. Engineers Christopher Stoppel and Fernanda Leite evaluated the predicted and actual energy consumption of two twin buildings using the energy model during the LEED design phase and the utility meter data after one year of occupancy. The study's results suggest that mechanical systems turnover and occupancy assumptions significantly differ from predicted to actual values. Most of the current analysis of LEED buildings focuses on LEED v3 (2009) or earlier versions rather than LEED v4 (2014) certification. According to Newsham et al., these analyses should be considered as preliminary and should be repeated with longer data history and larger building samples, including new LEED v4 certified buildings. Newsham et al. also noted that further work needs to be done to define green-building rating schemes to ensure more consistent and substantial long-term reduction of energy consumption at the individual building level.


IEQ performance research

The
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the national public health agency of the United States. It is a United States federal agency, under the Department of Health and Human Services, and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgi ...
(CDC) defines indoor environmental quality (IEQ) as "the quality of a building's environment in relation to the health and wellbeing of those who occupy space within it." The USGBC includes the following considerations for attaining IEQ credits:
indoor air quality Indoor air quality (IAQ) is the air quality within and around buildings and structures. IAQ is known to affect the health, comfort, and well-being of building occupants. Poor indoor air quality has been linked to sick building syndrome, reduce ...
, the level of
volatile organic compounds Volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are organic compounds that have a high vapour pressure at room temperature. High vapor pressure correlates with a low boiling point, which relates to the number of the sample's molecules in the surrounding air, a t ...
(VOC), lighting,
thermal comfort Thermal comfort is the condition of mind that expresses satisfaction with the thermal environment and is assessed by subjective evaluation ( ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 55).ANSI/ASHRAE Standard 55-2017, Thermal Environmental Conditions for Human Occupan ...
, and daylighting and views. In consideration of a building's indoor environmental quality, published studies have also included factors such as: acoustics, building cleanliness and maintenance, colors and textures, workstation size, ceiling height, window access and shading, surface finishes, furniture adaptability and comfort. In 2013, a paper published by Schiavon and architectural physicist Sergio Altamonte studied occupant IEQ satisfaction in LEED and non-LEED buildings. Using occupant surveys from the Center for the Built Environment at Berkeley database, 65 LEED-certified and 79 non-LEED buildings were analyzed for 15 IEQ-related factors. These factors include the ease of interaction, building cleanliness, the comfort of furnishing, the amount of light, building maintenance, colors and textures, workplace cleanliness, the amount of space, furniture adjustability, visual comfort, air quality, visual privacy, noise, temperature, and sound privacy. The results showed occupants tend to be slightly more satisfied in LEED buildings for the air quality and slightly more dissatisfied with the amount of light. The overall finding was that there was no significant influence of LEED certification on occupant satisfaction in consideration of the overall building and workspace ratings. The paper noted that the data may not be representative of the entire building stock and a randomized approach was not used in the data assessment. Based on similar dataset (21,477 occupants) in 2013, Schiavon and Altomonte found that occupants have equivalent satisfaction levels in LEED and non-LEED buildings when evaluated independently from the following factors: office type, spatial layout, distance from windows, building size, gender, age, type of work, time at workspace, and weekly working hours. LEED certified buildings may provide higher satisfaction in open spaces than in enclosed offices, in smaller buildings than in larger buildings, and to occupants having spent less than one year in their workspaces rather than to those who have used their workspace longer. The study also notes that the positive value of LEED certification from the aspect of occupant satisfaction may tend to decrease with time. In 2015, a study on indoor environmental quality and the potential health benefits of green-certified buildings was developed by environmental health scientist Joseph Allen (et al.) showing that green buildings provide better indoor environmental quality with direct benefits to human health of occupants of those buildings in comparison to non-green buildings. One of the limitations of the study was the use of subjective health performance indicators since there is a lack of definition on such indicators by current studies. Newsham et al. published a detailed study on IEQ and LEED buildings in August 2013. Field studies and post-occupancy evaluations (POE) were performed in 12 green and 12 conventional buildings across Canada and the northern United States. On-site, 974 workstations were measured for thermal conditions, air quality, acoustics, lighting, workstation size, ceiling height, window access and shading, and surface finishes. Responses were positive in the areas of environmental satisfaction, satisfaction with thermal conditions, satisfaction with outside views, aesthetic appearance, reduced disturbance from HVAC noise, workplace image, night-time sleep quality, mood, physical symptoms, and reduced number of airborne particulates. The results showed green buildings exhibited superior performance compared with similar conventional buildings. A 2017 study by Altomonte, Schiavon, et al. investigated whether a green rating itself leads to higher occupant satisfaction with IEQ. Based on the analysis of a subset of the CBE Occupant IEQ including 11,243 responses from 93 LEED-certified office buildings, this study found that the achievement of a specific IEQ credit did not substantially increase the satisfaction with the corresponding IEQ factor. In addition, the rating level and version of the certification had no impact on workplace satisfaction. There are some possible explanations. Many intervening factors in the time between design and occupancy can alter the existence or performance of the strategies that LEED awarded. IEQ certification metrics also face the challenges from substantial differences that characterize the modern workplace in terms of spatial needs, task requirements, users' characteristics, and disciplines of product design and marketing. Survey participants may also misinterpret the satisfaction with an IEQ parameter, or bias with personal attitudes. The daylight credit was updated in LEED v4 to include a simulation option for daylight analysis that uses spatial daylight autonomy (
SDA SDA or sda may refer to: Educational institutions * San Dieguito Academy, Encinitas, California, US * SDA Bocconi School of Management, in Milan, Italy Science and technology Biology * Specific dynamic action, the thermic effect of food * Str ...
) and annual sunlight exposure (
ASE Ase may refer to: * Ase, Nigeria, a town in Delta State, Nigeria * -ase, a suffix used for the names of enzymes * Aṣẹ, a West African philosophical concept * American Sign Language (ISO 639-3 code: ase) See also

* Åse (disambiguation) * ...
) metrics to evaluate daylight quality in LEED projects. SDA is a metric that measures the annual sufficiency of daylight levels in interior spaces and ASE describes the potential for visual discomfort by direct sunlight and glare. These metrics are approved by the
Illuminating Engineering Society of North America The Illuminating Engineering Society (IES), formerly the Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IESNA), is an industry-backed, not-for-profit, learned society that was founded in New York City on January 10, 1906. The IES's stated mi ...
(IES) and codified in the LM-83-12 standard. LEED recommends a minimum of 300 lux for at least 50% of total occupied hours of the year for at least 55% of the occupied floor area. The threshold recommended by LEED for ASE is that no more than 10% of regularly occupied floor area can be exposed to more than 1000 lux of direct sunlight for more than 250 hours per year. Additionally, LEED requires window shades to be closed when more than 2% of a space is subject to direct sunlight above 1000 lux. According to building scientist Christopher Reinhart, the direct sunlight requirement is a very stringent approach that can discourage good daylight design. Reinhart proposed the application of the direct sunlight criterion only in spaces that require stringent control of sunlight (e.g. desks, white boards, etc.).


Innovation in design research

Innovation in LEED architecture is linked with new designs and high-quality construction. One example is use of nanoparticle technology for consolidation and conservation effects in cultural heritage buildings. This practice began with the use of calcium hydroxide nano-particles in
porous Porosity or void fraction is a measure of the void (i.e. "empty") spaces in a material, and is a fraction of the volume of voids over the total volume, between 0 and 1, or as a percentage between 0% and 100%. Strictly speaking, some tests measure ...
structures to improve
mechanical strength The field of strength of materials, also called mechanics of materials, typically refers to various methods of calculating the stresses and strains in structural members, such as beams, columns, and shafts. The methods employed to predict the re ...
. Titanium, silica, and aluminum-based compounds may also be used. Material technology and construction techniques could be among first issues to consider in building design. For the facade of
high-rise buildings A tower block, high-rise, apartment tower, residential tower, apartment block, block of flats, or office tower is a tall building, as opposed to a low-rise building and is defined differently in terms of height depending on the jurisdictio ...
, such as the Empire State Building, the surface area provides opportunities for design innovation. New York City has five other high rise
green buildings Green building (also known as green construction or sustainable building) refers to both a structure and the application of processes that are environmentally responsible and resource-efficient throughout a building's life-cycle: from plannin ...
; Bank of America Building (One Bryant Park),
Hearst Building The Hearst Tower is a building at the southwest corner of 57th Street and Eighth Avenue, near Columbus Circle, in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is the world headquarters of media conglomerate Hearst Communications, housing many o ...
,
One World Trade Center One World Trade Center (also known as One World Trade, One WTC, and formerly Freedom Tower) is the main building of the rebuilt World Trade Center complex in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Designed by David Childs of Skidmore, Owings & Mer ...
,
The New York Times Building The New York Times Building is a 52-story skyscraper at 620 Eighth Avenue, between 40th and 41st Streets, on the west side of Midtown Manhattan in New York City. Its chief tenant is the New York Times Company, publisher of ''The New York Time ...
and
Condé Nast Building 4 Times Square (also known as 151 West 42nd Street or One Five One; formerly the Condé Nast Building) is a 52-story skyscraper at Times Square in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Located at 1472 Broadway (Manhattan), Broad ...
. VOC released from construction materials into the air is another challenge to address. In
Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
, a university-corporate partnership sought to produce semi-transparent solar panels to take the place of ordinary windows in glass-facade high-rise buildings. Similar concepts are under development elsewhere, with considerable market potential. The Manzara Adalar skyscraper project in
Istanbul Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...
, designed by
Zaha Hadid Dame Zaha Mohammad Hadid ( ar, زها حديد ''Zahā Ḥadīd''; 31 October 1950 – 31 March 2016) was an Iraqi-British architect, artist and designer, recognised as a major figure in architecture of the late 20th and early 21st centu ...
, saw considerable innovation as part of the Urban Transformation Project of the Kartal port region. Extreme structures that have received LEED certification include: Amorepacific Headquarters in Seoul by
David Chipperfield Architects David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...
; Project: Brave New World: SFMOMA by
Snøhetta Snøhetta is the highest mountain in the Dovrefjell mountain range in Norway. At , it is the highest mountain in Norway outside the Jotunheimen range, making it the 24th highest peak in Norway, based on a topographic prominence cutoff. At , ...
in
San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
, California; Project: UFO in a Sequinned Dress: Centro Botín in Santander by
Renzo Piano Renzo Piano (; born 14 September 1937) is an Italian architect. His notable buildings include the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris (with Richard Rogers, 1977), The Shard in London (2012), the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City ( ...
; Building Workshop in Zusammenarbeit with Luis Vidal + Architects, in Santander, Spain; and Project: Vertical factory: Office building in London by Allford Hall Monaghan Morris in
London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
.


Other related research notes

A 2003 analysis of the savings from green building found in a review of 60 LEED buildings that these buildings were, on average, 25–30% more energy efficient. It also attributed substantial benefits to the increased productivity from the better ventilation, temperature control, lighting control, and reduced indoor air pollution. From a financial perspective, several 2008 studies found that LEED for-rent office spaces generally charged higher rent and had higher occupancy rates. Analysis of
CoStar Group CoStar Group, Inc. is a Washington, DC-based provider of information, analytics and marketing services to the commercial property industry in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Spain. Founded in 1987 by Andrew C. ...
property data estimated the extra cost for the minimum benefit at 3%, with an additional 2.5% for silver-certified buildings. More recent studies have confirmed these earlier findings in that certified buildings achieve significantly higher rents, sale prices and occupancy rates as well as lower capitalization rates, potentially reflecting lower investment risk. LEED focuses on the design of the building and not on its actual energy consumption, and therefore it has been suggested that LEED buildings should be tracked to discover whether the potential energy savings from the design are being used in practice.


Directories of LEED-certified projects

The USGBC and Canada Green Building Council maintain online directories of U.S. LEED-certified and LEED Canada-certified projects. In 2012 the USGBC launched the Green Building Information Gateway (GBIG) to connect green building efforts and projects worldwide. It provides searchable access to a database of activities, buildings, places and collections of green building-related information from many sources and programs, including LEED projects.


Professional accreditation

The Green Building Certification Institute (GBCI) describes its LEED professional accreditation as "demonstrat ngcurrent knowledge of green building technologies, best practices" and the LEED rating system, to assure the holder's competency as one of "the most qualified, educated, and influential green building professionals in the marketplace." Credentials include the LEED Green Associate and the various types of specialized LEED Accredited Professionals (AP).


Benefits and disadvantages

LEED-certified buildings are intended to use resources more efficiently when compared to conventional structures inspected only to mandatory building codes. However, analysis of energy and water use data from New York City shows that LEED certification does not necessarily make a building more energy or water efficient. Often, when a LEED rating is pursued, the cost of initial design and construction rises. There may be a lack of abundant availability of manufactured building components that meet LEED specifications. There are also added costs in USGBC correspondence, LEED design-aide consultants, and the hiring of the required Commissioning Authority, which are not in themselves necessary for an environmentally responsible project. Proponents argue that these higher initial costs can be mitigated by the savings incurred over time due to projected lower-than-industry-standard operational costs typical of a LEED certified building. This life cycle costing is a method for assessing the total cost of ownership, taking into account all costs of acquiring, owning and operating, and the eventual disposal of a building. Additional economic payback may come in the form of employee productivity gains incurred as a result of working in a healthier environment. Studies suggest that an initial up-front investment of 2% extra yields over ten times that initial investment over the life cycle of the building. The USGBC has stated support for Architecture 2030, an effort that has set a goal for a building to operate with no greenhouse-gas-emitting energy by 2030. In progression toward this, from LEED's existing certifications, the
Living Building Challenge The Living Building Challenge is an international sustainable building certification program created in 2006 by the non-profit International Living Future Institute. It is described by the Institute as a philosophy, advocacy tool and certification ...
(LBC) is currently the most stringent sustainable design protocol. It sets 20 imperatives that compel building owners, designers, operators and tenants beyond current LEED rating levels. LEED is a design tool and not a performance measurement tool. It is also not yet climate-specific, although the newest version hopes to partially address this. Because of this, designers may be encouraged to make design choices to gain a LEED point, even though this choice is not optimal for the specific project. Additionally, LEED is not energy-specific; it only measures overall performance, allowing builders to choose how to achieve points under various categories. A ''
USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...
'' review showed that 7,100 certified commercial building projects targeted cheap and easy green points, such as creating healthy spaces and providing educational displays in the building. Few builders adopted renewable energy because of the initial cost. Builders game the rating system and use certain performances to compensate for the others, and energy conservation becomes the weakest part in the overall evaluation. LEED has been developed and continuously modified by workers in the green building industry, especially in the ten largest metro areas in the U.S.; however, LEED certified buildings have been slower to penetrate small and middle markets. There has been criticism that the LEED rating system is not sensitive and does not vary enough with regard to local environmental conditions. For instance, a building in
Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and ...
would receive the same credit as a building in
Arizona Arizona ( ; nv, Hoozdo Hahoodzo ; ood, Alĭ ṣonak ) is a state in the Southwestern United States. It is the 6th largest and the 14th most populous of the 50 states. Its capital and largest city is Phoenix. Arizona is part of the Fou ...
for water conservation, though the principle is more important in the latter case. Another complaint is that certification costs could be better used to make the project more sustainable. Many critics have noted that compliance and certification costs have grown faster than staff support from the USGBC. For existing buildings, LEED has developed LEED-EB. Research has demonstrated that buildings that can achieve LEED-EB equivalencies can generate a tremendous return-on-investment. In a 2008 white paper by the Leonardo Academy comparing LEED-EB buildings vs. data from BOMA's Experience Exchange Report 2007 demonstrated LEED-EB certified buildings achieved superior operating-cost savings in 63% of the buildings surveyed ranging from $4.94 to $15.59 per square foot of floor space. The overall cost of LEED-EB implementation and certification ranged from $0.00 to $6.46 per square foot of floor space, demonstrating that implementation is not expensive, especially in comparison to cost savings.


Incentive programs

Many federal, state, and local governments and school districts have adopted various types of LEED initiatives and incentives. Many local governments have adopted LEED incentive programs, which can include tax credits, tax breaks, density zoning bonuses, reduced fees, priority or expedited permitting, free or reduced-cost technical assistance, grants and low-interest loans.
Cincinnati Cincinnati ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located at the northern side of the confluence of the Licking and Ohio rivers, the latter of which marks the state line wit ...
, Ohio, adopted a measure providing an automatic 100% real property tax exemption of the assessed property value for newly constructed or rehabilitated commercial or residential properties that earn a minimum of LEED Certified. In
Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...
, construction materials for a qualifying LEED building are exempt from local taxes. Pieces of construction that are deemed 'inseparable parts', such as
concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most wid ...
or
drywall Drywall (also called plasterboard, dry lining, wallboard, sheet rock, gypsum board, buster board, custard board, and gypsum panel) is a panel made of calcium sulfate dihydrate (gypsum), with or without additives, typically extruded between thic ...
, qualify.
Maryland Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...
's High Performance Buildings Act (2008) requires all new public construction and renovations greater than to meet LEED Silver standard or two Green Globes. Between 2009 and 2014, the state is required to fund half of the required additional cost for public school construction or renovation to attain that standard.
Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...
is considering tax-based incentives for LEED buildings. In June 2013, USGBC announced a promotion called LEED Earth that refunds LEED certification fees to the first LEED-certified project in a country that doesn't have one.


Notable certifications

The
Philip Merrill Environmental Center The Philip Merrill Environmental Center is a Green building owned and operated by the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. Built in 2001, the Merrill Center is located in Annapolis, Maryland on the western shore of the Chesapeake Bay. The building serves as ...
was the first building to receive a LEED-Platinum rating, version 1.0. It was recognized as one of the "greenest" buildings constructed in the U.S. in 2001 at the time it was built. Sustainability issues ranging from energy use to material selection were given serious consideration throughout design and construction of this facility. The first LEED platinum-rated building outside the U.S. is the CII Sohrabji Godrej Green Business Centre (CII GBC) in Hyderabad, India, certified in 2003 under LEED version 2.0.
Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...
's
David L. Lawrence Convention Center The David L. Lawrence Convention Center (DLLCC) is a convention, conference and exhibition building in downtown Pittsburgh in the U.S. commonwealth of Pennsylvania. It is served by two exits on Interstate 579. The initial David L. Lawrence ...
was the first Gold LEED-certified convention center and largest "green" building in the world when it opened in 2003. It earned Platinum certification in 2012, becoming the only convention center with certifications for both the original building and new construction. In
Pittsburgh Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, and the county seat of Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Allegheny County. It is the most populous city in both Allegheny County and Wester ...
, the visitor's center of
Phipps Conservatory & Botanical Gardens Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens is a botanical garden set in Schenley Park, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. It is a City of Pittsburgh historic landmark and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The gardens wer ...
received a Silver certification, its Center for Sustainable Landscapes received a Platinum certification and fulfilled the
Living Building Challenge The Living Building Challenge is an international sustainable building certification program created in 2006 by the non-profit International Living Future Institute. It is described by the Institute as a philosophy, advocacy tool and certification ...
for net-zero energy, and its greenhouse facility received Platinum certification. Also in Pittsburgh, Sota Construction Services' corporate headquarters, which features a super-efficient thermal envelope using cob walls, a geothermal well, radiant heat flooring, a roof-mounted solar panel array, and daylighting features. It earned a LEED Platinum rating in 2012 with one of the highest scores by percentage of total points earned in any LEED category, making it one of the top ten greenest buildings in the world. The Cashman Equipment building is the first construction equipment dealership to receive LEED certification. It is the largest LEED
industrial complex The industrial complex is a socioeconomic concept wherein businesses become entwined in social or political systems or institutions, creating or bolstering a profit economy from these systems. Such a complex is said to pursue its own financial ...
in
Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...
.
Caterpillar Caterpillars ( ) are the larval stage of members of the order Lepidoptera (the insect order comprising butterflies and moths). As with most common names, the application of the word is arbitrary, since the larvae of sawflies (suborder Sym ...
corporate has rewritten their development guidelines for new facilities based on this building. Around 2010, the Empire State Building underwent a $550 million renovation, including $120 million towards energy efficiency and eco-friendliness. It received a gold LEED rating in 2011, and at the time was the tallest LEED-certified building in the United States. The
Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens is a botanical garden in Boothbay, Maine. It was opened in 2007.
Bosarge Family Education Center The Bosarge Family Education Center in Boothbay, Maine, United States is an 8,200-square-foot facility at the Coastal Maine Botanical Gardens built in 2011. It has attained LEED Platinum certification, the highest level that USGBC offers, and has ...
, completed in 2011, achieved LEED Platinum certification and became known as "Maine's greenest building". In October 2011
Apogee Stadium Apogee Stadium is a college football stadium located at the junction of Interstate 35 East and West in Denton, Texas. Opened in 2011, it is home to the University of North Texas (UNT) Mean Green football team, which competes in Conference US ...
at the
University of North Texas The University of North Texas (UNT) is a public research university in Denton, Texas. It was founded as a nonsectarian, coeducational, private teachers college in 1890 and was formally adopted by the state 11 years later."Denton Normal School," ...
became the first newly built stadium in the country to achieve Platinum-level certification. In May 2012,
Soldier Field Soldier Field is a multi-purpose stadium on the Near South Side of Chicago, Illinois, United States. Opened in 1924 and reconstructed in 2003, the stadium has served as the home of the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL) since ...
in
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...
became the first National Football League (NFL) stadium certified LEED. In July 2014, the
San Francisco 49ers The San Francisco 49ers (also written as the San Francisco Forty-Niners) are a professional American football team based in the San Francisco Bay Area. The 49ers compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National ...
'
Levi's Stadium Levi's Stadium is an American football stadium located in Santa Clara, California, just outside San Jose in the San Francisco Bay Area. It has served as the home venue for the National Football League (NFL)'s San Francisco 49ers since 2014. T ...
became the first NFL venue to earn a LEED Gold certification. The
Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansi ...
'
U.S. Bank Stadium U.S. Bank Stadium is an enclosed stadium located in downtown Minneapolis, Minnesota. Built on the former site of the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome, the indoor stadium opened in 2016 and is the home of the Minnesota Vikings of the National Footbal ...
equaled this feat with a Gold certification in Building Design and Construction in 2017 as well as a Platinum certification in Operations and Maintenance in 2019, a first for any professional sports stadium. In September 2012,
The Crystal City Hall, in the London Borough of Newham in east London, is the headquarters of the Greater London Authority (GLA), the regional government for Greater London. It replaced the previous City Hall, in Southwark in 2022. The building opened ...
in London became the world's first building awarded LEED Platinum and
BREEAM BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method), first published by the Building Research Establishment (BRE) in 1990, is the world's longest established method of assessing, rating, and certifying the sustainability of ...
Outstanding status. It generates its own energy using solar power and ground-source heat pumps, and utilizes extensive KNX technologies to automate the building's environmental controls. When it received LEED Platinum in 2012,
Manitoba Hydro Place Manitoba Hydro Place (MHP) is an office tower serving as the headquarters building of Manitoba Hydro, the electric power and natural gas utility in the province of Manitoba, Canada. Located at 360 Portage Avenue in downtown Winnipeg and connected ...
in downtown
Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749, ...
was the most energy-efficient office tower in North America and the only office tower in Canada with a Platinum rating. The office tower employs south-facing winter gardens to capture solar energy during the harsh Manitoba winters, and uses glass extensively to maximize natural light. In San Francisco's
Presidio A presidio ( en, jail, fortification) was a fortified base established by the Spanish Empire around between 16th and 18th centuries in areas in condition of their control or influence. The presidios of Spanish Philippines in particular, were cen ...
, the
Letterman Digital Arts Center The Letterman Digital Arts Center (LDAC), is an institution located in the Presidio, San Francisco, that has served as the combined home of Industrial Light & Magic, LucasArts, and Lucasfilm's marketing, online, and licensing units since 2005. ...
earned a Gold certification. It was built almost entirely from the recycled remains of the
Letterman Army Hospital The Letterman Army Hospital, established around 1898 and redesignated as the Letterman Army Medical Center (LAMC) in 1969, was a US Army facility at the Presidio of San Francisco in San Francisco, California, US. It was decommissioned in 1994. ...
, which previously occupied the site. Torre Sul of Green Tower Brasilias received LEED Gold certification in 2014. In the public retail area on the first floor, visitors can see the largest green wall in Latin America, which is high. In 2017,
Kaiser Permanente Kaiser Permanente (; KP), commonly known simply as Kaiser, is an American integrated managed care consortium, based in Oakland, California, United States, founded in 1945 by industrialist Henry J. Kaiser and physician Sidney Garfield. Kaiser ...
, the largest integrated health system in the United States, opened California’s first LEED Platinum certified hospital, the Kaiser Permanente San Diego Medical Center. By 2020, Kaiser Permanente owned 40 LEED certified buildings. Its construction of LEED buildings was one of multiple initiatives that enabled Kaiser Permanente to report net-zero carbon emissions in 2020.


Criticism

In 2005,
Auden Schendler Auden Schendler is an American climate activist, businessman and author of ''Getting Green Done''. He is Senior Vice President of Sustainability at Aspen Skiing Company. Schendler has written extensively about the difficulties of enacting sustai ...
and Randy Udall, respectively a LEED-accredited professional who is the director of environmental affairs at the Aspen Skiing Company and a Colorado-based environmentalist, published an article titled "LEED is Broken; Let's Fix It", in which they criticized numerous aspects of the LEED certification process. They characterized as "costly, slow, brutal, confusing, and unwieldy ... that makes green building more difficult than it needs to be". Schendler and Udall also identify an environmentalist fallacy which they call "LEED brain", in which the public relations value of LEED certification begins to drive the development of buildings. Writer David Owen, in his book ''Green Metropolis'', gives as an example of "LEED brain" the building by
Gap Inc. The Gap, Inc., commonly known as Gap Inc. or Gap (stylized as GAP), is an American worldwide clothing and accessories retailer. Gap was founded in 1969 by Donald Fisher and Doris F. Fisher and is headquartered in San Francisco, California. The c ...
of a green showcase building in
San Bruno, California San Bruno ( Spanish for " St. Bruno") is a city in San Mateo County, California, United States, incorporated in 1914. The population was 43,908 at the 2020 United States Census. The city is between South San Francisco and Millbrae, adjacent to S ...
, that, in itself, was a paradigm of environmentally-friendliness, but by its location, from the company's corporate headquarters in downtown
San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...
, and from Gap's corporate campus in Mission Bay, was actually harmful to the environment by forcing Gap employees to drive more miles, and the addition of shuttle buses between the various buildings. Owen points out that "no bus is as green as an elevator". In his book ''Walkable City'', city planner Jeff Speck provides another example of "LEED brain": the federal Environmental Protection Agency relocated its Region 7 Headquarters from downtown
Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City (abbreviated KC or KCMO) is the largest city in Missouri by population and area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 508,090 in 2020, making it the 36th most-populous city in the United States. It is the central ...
, to a LEED-certified building away in the suburb of
Lenexa, Kansas Lenexa is a city in Johnson County, Kansas, United States. It is one of four principal cities of the Kansas City Metropolitan Area and 9th most populated city of Kansas. As of the 2020 census, the population of the city was 57,434. It is ...
, causing many of the agency's 627 employees to drive additional miles to and from work. Kaid Benfield of the
Natural Resources Defense Council The Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) is a United States-based 501(c)(3) non-profit international environmental advocacy group, with its headquarters in New York City and offices in Washington D.C., San Francisco, Los Angeles, Chicago, Bo ...
estimated that the carbon emissions associated with the additional miles driven were almost three times higher than before, a change from 0.39 metric tons per person per month to 1.08 metric tons of carbon dioxide per person per month. Speck writes that "The carbon saved by the new building's LEED status, if any, will be a small fraction of the carbon wasted by its location".Speck, Jeff (2012) ''Walkable City: How Downtown Can Save America, One Step at a Time'' New York: North Point Press. pp.55–59. Both Speck and Owen make the point that a building-centric standard such as LEED, which doesn't sufficiently account for the location in which the building stands, will inevitably undervalue the strong positive effect of people living closer together in cities, which are inherently environmentally efficient, especially when compared to the automobile-oriented sprawl. LEED standards have also been criticized for not actually creating
energy efficient building Green building (also known as green construction or sustainable building) refers to both a structure and the application of processes that are environmentally responsible and resource-efficient throughout a building's life-cycle: from planni ...
s. In 2013, The ''
Washington Examiner The ''Washington Examiner'' is an American conservative news outlet which consists principally of an online/digital website with a weekly magazine, based in Washington, D.C. It is owned by MediaDC, a subsidiary of Clarity Media Group, which is o ...
'' analyzed energy efficiency data of New York City buildings and found that LEED-certified buildings actually performed worse than buildings in general. An analysis by ''
USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...
'' found that building makers target LEED's easiest points – those that don't necessarily increase the energy efficiency of a building.


See also

*
Building enclosure commissioning Building Enclosure Commissioning (BECx) (sometimes 'envelope' is used instead of 'enclosure') is a strict quality-focused process wherein the energy performance of a facility, system or assembly is evaluated and verified against defined objectives a ...
*
BREEAM BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method), first published by the Building Research Establishment (BRE) in 1990, is the world's longest established method of assessing, rating, and certifying the sustainability of ...
* Center for the Built Environment *
Center for Environmental Innovation in Roofing The Center for Environmental Innovation in Roofing is a non-profit organization headquartered in Washington, D.C., focusing on the intersection between roofing, energy, and environmental performance. History In February 2008, a group of indu ...
*
Code for Sustainable Homes The Code for Sustainable Homes was an environmental assessment method for rating and certifying the performance of new homes in United Kingdom. First introduced in 2006, it is a national standard for use in the design and construction of new homes ...
* Design Impact Measures * Ecological footprint * Energy conservation *
Estidama Estidama is a building design methodology for constructing and operating buildings and communities more sustainably. The program is a key aspect of the "Abu Dhabi Vision 2030" drive to build the Abu Dhabi emirate according to innovative green stan ...
*
Environmental design Environmental design is the process of addressing surrounding environmental parameters when devising plans, programs, policies, buildings, or products. It seeks to create spaces that will enhance the natural, social, cultural and physical environm ...
*
Green Globes Green Building Initiative (GBI) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that owns and administers the Green Globes green building assessment and certification in the United States and Canada. It was established in 2004 and is headquartered in Portland ...
* High-Performance Green Buildings * Home energy rating *
Living Building Challenge The Living Building Challenge is an international sustainable building certification program created in 2006 by the non-profit International Living Future Institute. It is described by the Institute as a philosophy, advocacy tool and certification ...
* NAHBGreen *
Passive house "Passive house" (german: Passivhaus) is a voluntary standard for energy efficiency in a building, which reduces the building's ecological footprint. It results in ultra-low energy buildings that require little energy for space heating or coo ...
*
QSAS Qatar Sustainability Assessment System (QSAS) is a green building certification system developed for the State of Qatar. The primary objective of Qatar Sustainability Assessment System SASis to create a sustainable built environment that minimizes ...
*
Renewable energy Renewable energy is energy that is collected from renewable resources that are naturally replenished on a human timescale. It includes sources such as sunlight, wind, the movement of water, and geothermal heat. Although most renewable energy ...
* SmartCode * Sustainable architecture * Sustainable_refurbishment *
U.S. Green Building Council The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), co-founded by Mike Italiano, David Gottfried and Rick Fedrizzi in 1993, is a private 501(c)3, membership-based non-profit organization that promotes sustainability in building design, construction, and op ...


Notes and references


Explanatory notes


Citations


General sources

* Green Building Facts ata file (n.d.). US Green Building Council. Retrieved June 27, 2009. * Kats, G., Alevantis, L., Berman, A., Mills, E., & Perlman, J. (2003)
The Costs and Financial Benefeits of Green Buildings: A Report to California's Sustainable Building Task Force
eport U.S. Green Building Council. * Lucuik, M., Trusty, W., Larsson, N., & Charette, R. (2005)
A Business Case for Green Building in Canada: Presented to Industry Canada
eport U.S. Green Building Council. * Owen, David (2009) ''Green Metropolis'' New York: Arrowhead. * Schendler, Auden and Udall, Randy (October 26, 2005
"Leed is Broken; Let's Fix It"
''
Grist Grist is grain that has been separated from its chaff in preparation for grinding. It can also mean grain that has been ground at a gristmill. Its etymology derives from the verb ''grind.'' Grist can be ground into meal or flour, depending on ho ...
'' * U.S. Green Building Council. (August 2006)
Foundations of the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, Environmental Rating System, A Tool for Market Transformation
olicy Manual


External links


About LEED
at
U.S. Green Building Council The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), co-founded by Mike Italiano, David Gottfried and Rick Fedrizzi in 1993, is a private 501(c)3, membership-based non-profit organization that promotes sustainability in building design, construction, and op ...
(USGBC) *
LEED
at USGBC *
LEED Project Directory
at USGBC *
GBIG Green Building Information Gateway
by USGBC

by the
Canada Green Building Council The Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC) was created in 2003 to further the expansion of green building in Canada. Prior to the formation of the Council, Canada had participated in the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) through British ...
*
Canada Builds Green Directory
at CGBC
Profile – LEED Green Building Certification System
{{DEFAULTSORT:Leadership In Energy And Environmental Design Building energy rating Building engineering Energy in the United States Environment of the United States Environmental design Sustainable building in the United States Sustainable building rating systems