Following one year of development based on market feedback, the LEED green building rating systems once again are evolving, this time with a greater focus on actual building performance. On Nov. 8, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) opened the first public comment period for proposed updates to the LEED systems and will accept commentary until Dec. 31. This public comment period is nearly twice as long as required by the standards development process used by the USGBC to allow stakeholders ample opportunity to review changes and provide constructive feedback, notes Asa Foss, a member of the LEED for Homes Technical Development team.
Several changes have been proposed for all LEED rating systems (Homes, Neighborhood Development, Building + Design, Interior Design + Construction, and Operations + Maintenance), emphasizing building performance and an integrated process and aimed at streamlining the systems, eliminating redundancies, tightening requirements, and making the programs more equitable, according to Foss.
“We cleared out credits that a vast majority of projects were getting because they proved to be too easy, as well as credits that almost no projects were getting because they weren’t achievable or didn’t make sense,” Foss says.
The development committees also eliminated credits for actions that could be counted more than once, e.g., credits for using off-site fabrication methods (for the specific waste reductions achieved) and credits for more general construction waste reductions, both under the Materials and Resources section in LEED 2009.
Other updates across the various LEED platforms include:
- New credit categories that will help teams better achieve project priorities (Integrated Process, Location and Transportation, and Performance);
- Changes to technical content, establishing more rigorous requirements;
Revised point distribution (to be established in the second draft version through a weightings process similar to that which was used for LEED 2009).
Some changes to LEED for Homes that Foss believes will garner the most attention are the update to the performance requirements of the Energy Star for Homes version 3 rating system and trading the current home size adjuster and HERS rating requirements for an absolute energy metric that reflects a home’s estimated reduction of annual energy usage regardless of its size.
In addition to soliciting comments through the usual public webpages at www.usgbc.org, the USGBC also will gather feedback from projects that currently are testing pilot credits, collect input from a moderated forum dedicated to discussing LEED’s evolution, and will take commentary from webinars that it will hold for key stakeholders.
Visit the USGBC’s public comment pages to read the new rating system drafts and log feedback.
