Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design or L.E.E.D. as it is popularly called, is the successful United States Green Building Council (USGBC)-led initiative that has rewritten the rules for construction, maintenance and operations of buildings within the context of the environment in which they are built.
What is L.E.E.D. and its growth so far…
USGBC is a non-profit community that encourages adoption of clean, green building technologies. L.E.E.D. is the rating system, endorsed by USGBC that recognizes buildings that are compliant with guidelines instituted by the organization such that buildings become sustainable energy management, energy-efficiency and life-cycle energy management.
The rating system began as a path-breaking concept initiated by Senior Scientist Robert. K. Watson, who worked at Natural Resources Defence Council providing “a suite for standard for environment sustainable construction.” From its first version NCv1.0 in 1998, it is now a sophisticated framework for emerging green technologies for building construction and operations/maintenance. The last version was released in 2009 and includes nine rating systems and five broad categories to include various specialities that Green Building Certification Institute Accredited Professional Program supports. However, as new green construction technologies, materials emerge and changes in environment too require adapting the rating system for present and immediate sustainable practices. Towards this end, L.E.E.D. is expected to release a new version in 2012.
New L.E.E.D. Version 2012 in the making
At the core of the program’s success is the immense attention to detail to every aspect of building operations and maintenance that makes the entire process complex and more of a governmental policy that is mandatory to comply with. There are very few cases, where L.E.E.D. is adopted as a passionate and compulsive best practice that facility owners need to implement for creating sustainable buildings.
And this is the primary region of focus, USGBC volunteers want to address. At a recent personal interaction with CNET’s, SmartPlanet, Scott Horst and the chair-elect for 2013, USGBC, Al Skodowski spoke on their vision for L.E.E.D. and shared details on how to bring the program and its tools to all stakeholders.
The problem with the present program, as Skodowski and others perceive is that the length of documentation required, involves way too much of work. Hence, the newer version will attempt to source usage data etc, using new technologies like Apps.
USGBC has recently launched an App Lab. It hosts third-party apps which allow users to manage L.E.E.D. projects on minute-to-minute basis as the data comes integrated on these apps.
Another initiative is the Green Building Information Gateway. In the pilot stage, it serves as a platform showcasing all green buildings, along with L.E.E.D. credits and achievements and will help in creating a ‘transformation in the market’ believe researchers.
The future will depend on Technology Adoption
The rating system’s future success, believe the organization’s executives, will depend on how technology can be adopted to drive competition in the greening process and also build a sense of belonging for more L.E.E.D. compliance seekers.