The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) recently announced the opening of the fifth public comment period for the proposed update to its LEED green building program. The comment period, which will close on December 10, enables the building community to view the most recent draft of the rating systems and provide comments where any substantive changes have been made. Ballot period is expected to open June 1, 2013.
LEED v4 continues to push the envelope on energy efficiency, allocating nearly 20% of all points to optimizing energy performance over the stringent ASHRAE/IES 90.1-2010 energy standard, which would do more to help curb CO2 emissions than any LEED rating system in its 12-year history.
In addition to bringing green building solutions to more market sectors, including data centers, warehouses and distribution centers, hospitality, mid-rise residential, and existing schools and retail, the next version includes more options for projects outside of the U.S., making LEED the common language for sustainability around the globe.
When fully launched in 2013, LEED v4 will offer an improved user experience that will make the certification review and documentation process more intuitive and efficient. The simplified reporting requirements will be thoroughly refined and tested by the LEED v4 beta testing group – the first crop of projects to pursue LEED V4 certification. The beta process enables project teams to engage with a pre-ballot version of LEED v4 with guided support from USGBC.
LEED v4 drafts and the public comment tool are now available on the newly re-launched, re-envisioned USGBC.org website, a platform that engages the green building community and supports an entire ecosystem of websites and apps. The new USGBC.org gives everyone the opportunity to build a rich history of involvement in the green building movement.
Approximately 35 credits are included in the draft open for public comment, and have been revised in response to feedback from previous public comment periods to further improve clarity, increase flexibility and options for project teams, and removing unsuitable requirements from previous drafts.
Click here to view the drafts of LEED v4.
