LEED Green Building Rating System™

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In many ways Green Building is in its infancy. While many people recognize that greener building is desirable, there is a great deal of debate on what is appropriately called “green”.

The U.S. Green Building Council is a non profit coalition formed in 1993 to be a center for debate and action on environmental issues. Its membership includes building professionals, product manufacturers, environmental groups, building owners, utilities, research institutions and professional societies. It is a consensus driven organization committed to promoting understanding, development, and implementation of Green Building policies.

With the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED™) program, he U. S. Green building Council is launching a rating system by which the Green performance of a building can be certified. LEED™ rates a building based on accepted energy and environmental principles using existing proven technology. This definitive standard evaluates environmental performance from a “whole building” perspective over a building’s life cycle. Because the state of the art is an ever moving target, LEED™ criteria will be revised and updated every three years.

LEED™ is a self-certifying system designed for rating new and existing commercial institutional, and high-rise residential building. Credits are earned for satisfying an array of specific criteria and different levels of certification are awarded based on the total credits earned. Credits will be awarded based on the system in place at the time of application for certification. It is designed with flexibility to respond to action that complies with the spirit, if not the letter of the compliance criteria.

Documentation of design criteria directed at meeting LEED standards will be submitted on signed and stamped drawings from the Architect and Engineers on the job. A LEED building designation can then be used as a marketing took in attracting tenants and other business, and a plaque affixed to the building.. This program is in its pilot phase, and application feeds will be waived for the duration. Documentation and application forms can be downloaded from the Web at http://www.usgbc.org, or can be obtained by mail from

The U.S. Green Building Council

110 Sutter Street

San Francisco, CA 94104