The Next Evolution of LEED

At the 2009 AHR Expo, the HARDI Sustainable Building Committee held its first meeting since its initial scoping meeting at the 2008 Fall Conference. There the committee agreed that the new version of the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design^® (LEED^®) offers significant opportunities for HVACR distributors. However, for HARDI members to take full advantage of the LEED movement, the most prominent green building certification required a narrowing and summarization for the HVACR industry. Sustainable Building Committee member Mark Smith of Ductmate Industries agreed to review the new LEED certification when it was released and isolate the most important elements for HARDI members. This article features Mr. Smith's analysis and summary of the key portions of LEED v3 drafted exclusively for HARDI distributor members.
— Talbot Gee, vice president, HARDI

It doesn't matter if you are a Fortune 500 company, a corner drugstore or a dedicated HVACR wholesaler; if you are not constantly improving your business, you are slowly getting worse. This statement is also relevant if you are a nonprofit organization such as the U.S. Green Building Council. The council, better known as the USGBC, continuously evaluates its green building certification programs to stay ahead of the competition and push for improvement over existing codes or standards.

On April 27, the USGBC launched LEED 2009, which includes LEED v3. LEED v3 represents a major evolution in the rating system, accreditation process and online certification services. The changes can appear overwhelming at first. However, you will find it easier to digest after breaking them down into the categories of the rating system, accreditation process and online services.

The primary objective behind the launch of LEED v3 is to incorporate new technologies and advances in building sciences. The new rating system consolidates most of LEED's existing nine separate rating systems into only three. These are Green Building Design and Construction, Green Interior Design and Construction, and Green Building Operation and Maintenance. USGBC left LEED for Homes and LEED for Neighborhood developments separate because of its recent introduction into the market in 2008. This article will focus on the Green Building Design and Construction rating system which is a consolidation of:

Former LEES reference guide (left) and current LEED reference guide (right). Chart courtesy of U.S. Green Building Council.

• LEED for New Construction (LEED NC)
• LEED for Core & Shell (LEED CS)
• LEED for Schools
• LEED for Healthcare
• LEED for Retail

The new format combines all of the credits from the previous five manuals into a library of credits contained in just one manual for Green Building Design and Construction. LEED v3 has also added regional priority credits, which incentivizes projects to take advantage of credits of special interest to the specific geographic area. The restructuring of its credit system increased the number of available points from 69 to 110, thus requiring a new scale for certification of LEED projects and reweighting of the point system. The new scale for project certification is as follows:

• 40-49 Certified
• 50-59 Silver
• 60-79 Gold
• 80-110 Platinum