What You Need to Know About LEED 2009
May 28, 2009
Today’s tip is about the US Green Building Council’s new LEED 2009 rating system.
LEED 2009 includes some major changes with which facility executives need to be familiar. LEED 2009 will consist of three project-specific rating systems and project teams choose the most applicable system. The three rating systems are: Green Building Design and Construction, Green Interior Design and Construction, and Green Building Operations and Maintenance. Project teams will go to the LEED Online site, enter details about their projects, and the system will spit out a suite of credits specific to the type of project. For example, if you’re building a spec office building, your credits will look remarkably similar to the old LEED for Core and Shell. If you’re building a school, your credits will be a spitting image of LEED for Schools. And if you’re working on green operations in any type of facility, your credits will be tailored to your type of building, but still resemble the LEED for Existing Buildings: Operations and Maintenance rating system.
In addition to some much-need updates and re-weighting of credits — more stringent energy efficient requirements, for one — LEED 2009 includes regional credits emphasizing sustainable strategies for particular parts of the country (water efficiency in Arizona, for example).
The LEED 2009 is only one part of a three-part initiative USGBC is calling LEED Version 3. The other two parts include a streamlined certification process and LEED Online Version 3.
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