Joey Barnett

September 18, 2008

On September 2, 2008, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) closed the second public comment period for its proposed 2009 Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standard. Originally drafted in 2000, LEED has become the world's leading certification system for sustainable architecture, a philosophy of design and construction that integrates natural resources more effectively while creating healthier and more efficient buildings.

LEED's standards for commercial structures permits builders to seek points in six categories: sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials and resources, indoor environmental quality, and design innovation. Each category is given a different point level, allowing USGBC to emphasize what aspects it considers to be most beneficial. USGBC awards certification at one of four levels--Certified, Silver, Gold, or Platinum--depending on the number of points a project has received.

However, critics of LEED have point out that its point system should redistribute the available points so that a given credit's point value more accurately reflects its potential to either mitigate the negative or promote positive environmental impacts of a building. To combat this criticism, USGBC will be placing a greater weight on energy and atmosphere for LEED 2009, encouraging designs that reduce a building's greenhouse gas emissions and use of fossil fuels.

Scot Horst, chair of the LEED steering committee stated, "We are saying climate change is the most important thing, so we put the most points to credits that deal with climate change. . . . If you want to get certified, you have to focus on those areas."

The 2009 LEED proposed standards also include more mandatory designs, such as water efficiency, as well as bonus points to compensate for regional differences. To lower builder's costs, USGBC will also allow other organizations become independent LEED certification bodies.

Sources

Aspen Editorial Staff, Rethinking LEED, 28 No. 7 Energy Design Update 5 (2008).

Ben Block, Green Building Standards Under Construction, Worldwatch Institute, (August 27, 2008), available at http://www.enn.com/lifestyle/article/38034 (last visited September 1, 2008).

Benjamin S. Kingsley, Note, Making It Easy to be Green: Using Impact Fees to Encourage Green Building, 83 N.Y.U. L. Rev. 532, 535-540 (2008).

Jane Ennis Sheehan, Environmental Capitalism: Green Building, Maryland Bar Journal, May/June 2008, at 34.