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U.S. Green Building Council announces new standards for green construction certification
November 21, 2013
U.S. Green Building Council announces new standards for green construction certification
The U.S. Green Building Council announced the fourth major update to LEED, its third-party green building certification program. LEED stands for “Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design” and uses a point system to rate buildings, both new constructions and retrofits. The new version was announced yesterday at the Greenbuild conference, held in Philadelphia.
LEED v4 aims to set higher standards for green buildings and streamline the certification process. The newest version is intended to address the sometimes contradicting criticisms of LEED, a topic addressed at a Greenbuild session.
New emphasis on building performance management will also help the long-term success of LEED certified projects. Building owners will be encouraged to better maintain their buildings, that investments in green tech really leads to the energy savings and other benefits its intended to provide.
To help projects reach a higher standard of sustainability, LEED v4 also introduces new “impact categories,” which are climate change, human health, water resource, biodiversity, green economy, community and natural resources. Another highlight of LEED v4 is new adaptations for types of buildings not previously included such as data centers, warehouses and distribution centers, hospitality, existing schools, existing retail and mid-rise residential projects.
Read more at Treehugger.
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