LEED Rating System

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Rating System


History
The US Green Building Council was formed in the mid 90's.  The members wanted to establish a rating system that would allow building owners and operators to actually measure the sustainable design features and sustainable practices in their buildings.  Their first rating system, LEED for New Construction, was introduced in 2000.  This rating system targeted sustainable design elements in new commercial buildings.


Rating Systems and Points
Since then the USGBC has developed several different rating systems developed specifically for various construction markets .  Those rating systems include Commercial Interiors (CI), Healthcare, Retail, Schools and Homes.  In order to address the entire lifecycle of a building a rating system for Existing Buildings Operation and Maintenance (EBOM) was also created.  USGBC provides third party verification that the requirements of the individual systems have been met.  While each system has requirements relating specifically to their particular market, the system has six major categories:

1. Sustainable Sites
2. Water Efficiency
3. Energy and Atmosphere
4. Materials & Resources
5. Indoor Environmental Quality
6. Innovation in Design

Each category has a number of associated points or credits and also pre-requisites..  The pre-requisites are requirements that must be met or else the project cannot register for certification.  For example in New Construction there is s pre-requisite that the building must have a designated space for collecting recyclable materials.  If you do not incorporate the space in the building and indicate it on the prints, the project can not move forward with certification. In addition each credit has a specific intent, compliance requirements and documentation requirements.  A weighted point system is applied to each credit.  So there are more points available in the Energy and Atmosphere category than there are in the Material and Resources category.


LEED Accredited Professionals (LEED-AP's)

LEED-AP's are required to pass an exam that tests their knowledge of a particular rating system. Many AP's specialize in more that one rating system.  An AP's role on the project is to  lead/assist the design team in developing strategies and accumulating the documentation required to achieve certification.  Because of the integrated design approach encouraged by LEED achieving one credit can have impacts on several others.  For example a vegetated roof can have an impact on 7 different credits.

Certification Levels
Based on the number of verified points a project achieves. the project will be eligible for different levels of certification:

1. Certified - 40 to 49 pts
2. Silver -      50 to 59 pts
3. Gold -       60 to 79 pts
4. Platinum - 80+

Depending on the rating system there can be 110 points or more available for a project to pursue.