Do facility managers hoping to start an EBOM initiative now HAVE to use LEED v4? Is there a grace period?
Existing LEED 2009 projects are not affected by the release of LEED v4 at Greenbuild in November 2013. To give the market time to adapt to LEED v4, USGBC has established a “grace period,” under which projects can continue to register for LEED 2009 through June 2015, after which point LEED v4 will be required.
We can expect that LEED projects of all types will want to stick with what they know best as long as possible, and so given the choice a lot of people will want to work with LEED 2009. Besides being more familiar to project teams, the requirements in LEED 2009 are generally perceived as easier to comply with.
However, USGBC wants LEED v4 to take hold in the marketplace. If not necessarily easier to comply with, USGBC has pledged to work hard to make it more straightforward to document. They may also introduce other incentives, such as greater public recognition, of LEED v4 projects that will start to make projects working under earlier versions of LEED appear stale.
Also, when it comes time to recertify, starting your project on LEED v4 as soon as possible will make recertification easier. You’ll have less work translating credits from LEED 2009 or earlier into a LEED v4 focused recertification effort.
Answers provided by Tristan Roberts, editorial director for BuildingGreen, Inc., the main voice behind its popular LEED help tool LEEDuser.com, and moderator of the LEEDuser forum.
Most Impactful Changes in LEED v4
LEED-EBOM's Performance and Establishment Requirements
Explaining the "Energy Jumpstart" Credit in LEED-EBOM
The LEED-EBOM v4 Grace Period
