USGBC Seeks Input to Advance Future of LEED

By Karen L. Edwards, RCS Editor.

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) created the LEED program 20 years ago to provide guidance and direction on the building of environmentally friendly, sustainable buildings.

LEED guidelines are updated through a continuous improvement method that ensure the building sector continues to be more sustainable as new technologies and methods emerge. Now LEED is asking for feedback for the next version of guidelines.

This April LEED released the LEED v4.1 rating system that emphasize the human experience, improving the health and well-being of the people who live, work and play in the buildings, the cities and the communities.  Mahesh Ramanujam, president & CEO, USGBC said in a press release, “With LEED v4.1 we have fundamentally transformed our rating system development process.”

Ramanujam continued, ““It has allowed us to become more agile and adaptable to incorporate real time feedback so that we can realistically raise the bar on the marketplace. We received an overwhelming response to our LEED v4.1 call for proposals, which has helped us to deliver on the market needs making LEED v4.1 successful and a market leader. Building on this success, we are excited to engage the market again to solicit ideas, proposals and feedback for improving LEED v4.1 and future versions of LEED. Together, we can continue the work we started with LEED v4.1 to ensure that LEED is not only the de facto leadership standard but also creating a better living standard.”

Melissa Baker, senior vice president, LEED said that they want to develop a rating system that is “adaptive and responsive to the ever-changing world around us.“ Baker said that since v4.1 was release in April, feedback has been positive and the organization is working toward what the future of LEED will look like.

The call for ideas opened July 9 and proposals must make edits to the existing LEED language using tools provided by the organization. Multiple submissions are permitted.

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