What is LEED?

The United States Green Building Council (USGBC) created the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System in an effort to provide a national standard for what constitutes a “green building.” Architects, designers, retail executives and facility managers, seeking to develop high-performance, sustainable buildings utilize it as a design guideline.

There are currently three versions of LEED available:

	LEED for New Construction and Major Renovations (LEED-NC) focuses on whole buildings and major renovations
	LEED for Commercial Interiors (LEED-CI) applies to tenant improvements of new or existing office space
	LEED for Existing Buildings (LEED-EB) applies to facility management policies and measured performance.

 

The LEED rating system defines the requirements, by category (listed below), needed to achieve points under each area. Projects earn one or more points toward certification by meeting or exceeding each credit’s technical requirements. Points compute to a final score that relates to one of four possible levels of certification: Certified, Silver, Gold or Platinum.

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