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US Green Building Council Approves LEED v4 for Adoption
Green Technology Featured Articles
July 11, 2013

US Green Building Council Approves LEED v4 for Adoption

By Cheryl Kaften
TMCnet Contributor

The membership of the Washington, DC-based U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) has voted 86 percent in favor to adopt LEED v4, the next update to the widely respected and adopted green building rating system.

“There [were] 46 countries and territories around the world and all 50 U.S. states (and the District of Columbia) represented in the voting pool for LEED v4, which includes an extraordinarily diverse group of industry professionals, manufacturers, educators and other green building leaders,” said Joel Ann Todd, chair of the LEED Steering Committee. “USGBC sets a very high bar for a rating system to be approved. The rating system must earn a significant percentage of the overall vote, as well as a majority approval from each of the various LEED stakeholder groups. This ensures that rating system approval represents the full diversity of USGBC’s membership.”


The final 86 percent approval rate comprised:

  • 90 percent approval from the user category of the voting body,
  • 77 percent approval from the general interest category, and 
  • 89 percent approval from the producer category.

The minimum overall percentage of votes needed for a passing vote was 66.7 percent.

The acronym LEED stands for Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design. Over the course of LEED’s development cycle, the program has gone through a series of public comment periods, ending with a final ballot, during which USGBC members vote on whether to adopt the changes within the final proposed system.

“This update of LEED builds on the past while offering new requirements, preparing all LEED projects to achieve higher levels of building performance and positive environmental outcomes,” said Scot Horst, senior vice president of LEED, USGBC. “This newest version of LEED challenges the market to make the next leap toward better, cleaner, healthier buildings. I am confident that people will also notice the improved usability of the system with an improved documentation process and more resources and tools to assist and support positive action.”

Starting this summer, USGBC will offer education on LEED v4 in the form of webinar suites, and the full program along with reference guides will be unveiled at this year's Greenbuild International Conference & Expo in Philadelphia from November 20 through 22.

Each day, more than 1.5 million square feet of space is certified using LEED. Nearly 54,000 projects are currently participating in the commercial and institutional LEED rating systems, comprising 9.7 billion square feet of construction space in more than 140 countries and territories. In addition, close to 40,000 residential units have been certified under the LEED for Homes rating system, with over 100,000 more homes registered.

Right now, more than 100 projects are pursuing certification through the LEED v4 beta program. With projects currently in the review phase, some will certify as early as this summer. Enrollment for the beta program is still open. Download the LEED v4 User Guide for details.




Edited by Blaise McNamee


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