With in excess of 3.5 billion square feet of Green building projects, comprising over 10,000 individual buildings, having registered to seek LEED certification (as of May 1, 2008), and with dozens more signing up every day, it should not be surprising that the U.S. Green Building Council has proposed ‘improving’ its flagship LEED for New Construction rating system.

On the cusp of a Green building revolution, LEED 2009 is now open for a second public comment. The first public comment period for LEED 2009 ran in May and June of this year and received over 5,800 comments. The second public comment period opened on August 19th and will remain open through September 2nd, in advance of a vote on the revised rating system in late 2008.

LEED-NC (New Construction and Major Renovation) is a third party rating system for buildings that was designed to guide and distinguish high performance Green buildings that have less of an impact on the environment, are healthier for those who work or live in the building, and are more profitable than their conventional counterparts.

LEED-NC is a performance-oriented rating system where building projects earn points for satisfying criterion designed to address specific environmental impacts inherent in the design, construction, operations and management of a building. The LEED certification system is organized into six environmental categories: Sustainable Sites, Water Efficiency, Energy and Atmosphere, Materials and Resources, Indoor Environmental Quality and Innovation & Design.

The draft LEED 2009 (alternately referred to as LEED version 3) is not a wholesale overhaul, but rather a refinement to the existing LEED-NC v2.2. that increases the rating system’s emphasis on a building’s environmental, economic and social impact, according to the USGBC.

In LEED 2009 the highest weightings will be given to building practices that improve energy efficiency and reduce CO2 emissions to align with USGBC’s goal of climate change mitigation.

Key changes also include the addition of bonus points (eventually core points) for addressing regional environmental conditions, and a methodology for reallocating points within the scoring system to give greater weight to human health and the environment.

The number of available points has risen from 69 under LEED 2.2 to 110 (actually a 100 point scale plus 10 bonus points) under LEED 2009. More points are needed to reach each level of certification. Reaching LEED Certified will now be 40 points or more (versus 26 points under v2.2), Silver is 50 points (versus 33), Gold is 60 (versus 39) and Platinum is 80 points (versus 52). And significantly, now a number of credits will gain multiple points.

Interesting is that the Sustainable Sites credits for Development Density & Community Connectivity (SSc2) and for Alternative Transportation, Public Transportation Access (SSc4.1) are now worth a combined 11 points, versus 2 points under LEED 2.2. This greatly increases the emphasis on urban projects.

Among a series of revisions made as a result of the first comment period, most of which were modest, is that a credit for Development Density & Community Connectivity is made more easily attained because if the building “is mixed use, [the building itself] .. may be considered one of the ten basic services that are required to be located within ½ mile, as long as the service is open to the public.”

Water Use Reduction 20% is now a prerequisite for LEED where that same 20% water use reduction was a single point under LEED 2.2. Many manufacturers are producing low-flow fixtures, such that what was innovative a few years ago is now easily attained. Extra point thresholds are now 30% and 40% reductions (which are now worth two points a piece).

The weighting of credits has also shifted now with a greater emphasis on energy use (35% of available points) and a reduced emphasis on indoor environmental quality (down from 23% of all points to 15%). For example, all LEED projects are now required to reduce energy ue to 14% less than a 1999 national standard and under LEED 2009 that requirement will be increased to 30%.

There is a new category of credits available under the proposed system, but they are not actually ‘new’ credits. Rather, there are four points for regional bonus credits. This allows for a “regional authority” to designate targeted credits that are of particular importance for a region, and, in effect, give double credit for projects that meet those credits. For a region where heat island reduction was identified as an important goal, for example, it would be possible to get two credits or where water reduction was identified as important, more points would be available.

Related to this, the USGBC is trying to promote the activity of regions and individual chapters in developing the system where the bonus credits will be targeted by zip code. Each grouping of zip codes will have six local priorities identified, and up to four of those can be selected, giving the project up to four additional points for concentrating on areas the regional authority has indicated as priorities.

A fifth point is available for Innovation & Design Process (rather than four points previously) to promote more new ideas and alternative methods for improving buildings.

USGBC has announced that future revisions will incorporate lifecycle analysis; a methodology that addresses the effects of material extraction and manufacturing, building construction and maintenance, and demolition and disposal.

The complete draft LEED 2009 can be accessed atwww.usgbc.org and should be reviewed by anyone with a building in the planning stages today.

We are on the cusp of a Green building and sustainable development revolution. LEED 2009, with a related expansion in capacity with more third party certification and an upgrade to LEED online, will advantage this fastest evolving sector of the real estate industry. If we can assist you in building the Green building revolution, please give Stuart Kaplow a call.