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USGBC Announces New Milestone for LEED
The U.S. Green Building Council announced a new LEED milestone last week: more than 100,000 LEED-certified commercial projects have now been registered.
“In 1998, we created LEED to measure and define what green building meant, and to provide a roadmap for developing sustainable buildings,” said Mahesh Ramanujam, President and CEO, USGBC.
“Today millions of us are living, working and learning in LEED-certified buildings around the world. These spaces are using less energy and water, mitigating the environmental burden on their communities, saving money and offering the people who occupy them a better quality of life. This latest milestone demonstrates how the global green building community is delivering on the vision we set forth more than 20 years ago with better buildings and spaces that equal better lives.”
Other LEED Feats
In August, the USGBC released its report “LEED in Motion: Residential,” which showed that green, LEED-certified homes have grown 19% since 2017 and are at an all-time high with nearly 500,000 single-family, multifamily and affordable-housing LEED-certified units globally and more than 400,000 units located in the U.S.
Today, we have reached a milestone! And we could never have accomplished it without you.
— USGBC (@USGBC) November 7, 2019
From 19 pilot projects in 1998, we have grown to over 100,000 registered and certified commercial #LEED projects around the world! https://t.co/hOV93nac7Y pic.twitter.com/98ItzBR5jW
The report also outlined the top 10 states for LEED-certified homes in the U.S. (Not to be confused with the USGBC’s previous top 10 state list for LEED-certified projects in general.)
In the residential list, California took the top spot with nearly 40,000 certified residential units. Second place went to Texas, which has 24,500. The organization notes that, on average, LEED-certified homes use 20-30% less energy than a traditional home, with some home owners reporting up to 60% savings.
The top states include:
In April, the USGBC released the LEED v4.1 certification, which it says recognizes leadership by emphasizing not only integrated design, social equity and human health factors, but also looks at performance monitoring.
For the residential market, LEED v4.1 combines aspects from four previously existing LEED homes rating systems—LEED for Low-Rise Homes, LEED for Mid-Rise Homes, LEED for Core and Shell and LEED for New Construction—to deliver three revamped rating systems, which include LEED v4.1 Residential: New Single-family Homes, LEED v4.1 Residential: New Multifamily Homes and LEED v4.1 New Multifamily Homes Core and Shell.
According to the Council, the updated rating system is designed to make the decision to implement LEED easier for residential projects. Now, LEED credits that have a higher value to home owners and residents are prioritized, such as health and well-being, improved comfort, energy and water savings, and green and healthy materials. Options have also been added to existing LEED credits that lower both hard and soft costs to achieve certification.
And in July, the council announced a call for proposals to solicit ideas for the next version. Those that were submitted by Sept. 13 were considered to be featured in the “Future of LEED” education session at the annual Greenbuild International Conference and Expo, Nov. 19-22, in Atlanta.
