Rating System Resets Bar For Green Building Performance In 2009

LEED 2009, a long-awaited update to the internationally recognized LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental) green building certification program,

CP STAFF

LEED 2009, a long-awaited update to the internationally recognized LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental) green building certification program, has passed member ballot and will serve as the next major evolution of the existing U.S. Green Building Council rating systems for commercial buildings. Announced at the Council-sponsored Greenbuild Expo in Boston, it includes a series of major technical advancements focused on improving energy efficiency, reducing carbon emissions, and addressing other environmental and human health outcomes.

Incorporating eight years of market and user feedback, LEED 2009 will also present highly anticipated regional credits, extra points that have been identified as priorities within a project’s given environmental zone. LEED has also undergone a scientifically grounded re-weighting of credits, changing allocation of points among LEED credits to reflect climate change and energy efficiency as urgent priorities. This will be one of the most significant changes to the rating system, Council officials contend, and will increase the importance of green building as a means of contributing immediate and measurable solutions toward energy independence, climate change mitigation, and other global priorities.

The first public comment period for LEED 2009 opened in May, followed by a second in late August. USGBC received nearly 7,000 comments from members and stakeholders at the conclusion of the second public comment period in September. The final step in the consensus development process for LEED 2009 was to be balloted for a pass/fail vote among USGBC’s 18,000 member organizations. LEED 2009 successfully passed member ballot in mid-November. Detailed information about specific proposed technical changes to the rating system can be found in the background documents that accompany the public comment forms at www.usgbc.org.