Since it was launched in 2000, LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) has been a catalyst. From code changes to advances in design practices, LEED’s impact has rippled throughout the architecture, engineering and construction community. The latest version—LEED v4—is changing the game again, expanding its reach into a wider variety of markets and even beyond our AEC ecosystem.
1. More Support For A Wider Variety of Building Types
LEED v4 acknowledges a much wider variety of buildings types with 21 different market sector adaptations. When developing the specializations, the US Green Building Council (USGBC) had each reviewed by market leaders who either owned, designed or operated the space type to identify the unique needs of each market.
LEED v4 has added support for the following market sectors:
- existing schools
- existing retail
- data centers—both new and existing
- warehouses and distribution centers—both new and existing
- hospitality
- mid-rise residential
“The mission of LEED remains the beneficial transformation of design, construction, operations and maintenance of buildings, not just for some, but for all. To that end, a critical part of LEED v4 has been making sure that it is flexible enough to be applicable on a wide scale that is not limited by location or building type,” explains Scot Horst, Senior Vice President of LEED at the USGBC.
2. Increased Focus Beyond Opening Day
“LEED v4 is even more focused on performance outcomes than its previous versions,” explains Elaine Aye, LEED Fellow and President of Green Building Services in Portland. “Added requirements prepare the building operators for the intended operation of building systems shifting the focus from design alone to design through operations.”
For LEED v4, USGBC started by developing new impact categories:
- Reverse contribution to global climate change
- Enhance individual human health and well-being
- Protect and restore water resources
- Protect, enhance and restore biodiversity and ecosystem services
- Promote sustainable and regenerative material resources cycles
- Build a greener economy
- Enhance social equity, environmental justice, community health and quality of life
LEED v4 puts emphasis on rewarding buildings that reach and report certain performance requirements, changing the focus from “do less bad” to “do more good.”One area this is touching is that of demand response in EA Pilot Credit 8. “Demand response encourages two-way communication between buildings and electric utilities and supports sophisticated load management on both sides of the meter,” shares Aye. Buildings can receive credit by participating in an existing demand response program or providing infrastructure to take advantage of future response programs once they become available.
3. Impact to Manufacturers
Just as food labeling allows consumers more educated choices, LEED v4 introduces Building Product Disclosure. “Under the first option of the new Building Product Disclosure and Optimization credit, LEED v4 awards a point for construction projects that use at least 20 building products sourced from a minimum of five different manufacturers that have issued Environmental Product Declarations (EPD) or Health Product Declarations (HPD),” highlights Aye. “This will have a direct impact on manufacturers, and they have been focused on addressing products that meet the criteria. To comply with the credit category, manufactures will be required to provide information pertaining to their products that have a life-cycle assessment conforming to ISO 14044, have an EPD for their product, or verify that their product is certified by a third party demonstrating LCA [Life Cycle Impact Assessment] reductions below industry average.” The large manufacturers—flooring and furniture—will likely be the first to demonstrate that they have products that comply. And many of them already do. Aye continues, ”There is a cost associated with providing this level of scrutiny, but this is what market transformation is all about. When specifying products, simply ask the manufacturer if they have an EPD for the product you are interested in. If not, ask when they might have one available.”
4. Expanded Role of the Certified Commissioning Authority (CxA)
“Commissioning now includes the building envelope which in the past only focused on mechanical and plumbing systems,” explains Aye. “The CxA must be engaged by the design development phase. This earlier engagement allows the CxA to be involved in the development of the OPR [owners project requirement] and BOD [basis of design] in order to see the design intent through to completion.”
5. Easier to Use
Just as LEED focuses on performance of buildings, it has adopted a system of continuous, iterative improvement for itself as well. LEED v4 offers a new approach to documentation and reference guides. LEEDv4 simplifies the work for project teams so that they can spend their energy achieving credits rather than documenting them.
This version includes a more intuitive technology platform with:
- Combined forms for prerequisites and credits in order to reduce overlap and duplicative work.
- Downloadable calculators to provide LEED users a better understanding of the equations behind the calculations.
- Reduction in the amount of documentation where industry standard documentation provides all of the information needed to confirm credit compliance and submittal documents have been modified to reflect that.
Reference guides have been completely redesigned to make them function better as full guides, instead of a collection of separate credit-specific explanations. There is a new Getting Started section, better navigation tools and web-based reference guides.“At the credit level, the focus is on clarity, making sure project teams can quickly and easily see what each credit requires and how to achieve it. Supporting that goal are several new sections within each credit,” says Horst.
6. A More Synergistic Approach
“LEED v4, at its core, provides insight into the synergies within the building system, providing solutions for optimizing performance, and ultimately achieving better environmental, economic and social outcomes in our buildings,” elaborates Horst. “LEED v4 is the LEED of the future, where we challenge the marketplace to go further, to make the next great leap toward better, cleaner, healthier buildings where people live and work.”LEED v4 has taken the next step in looking at building systems and focusing more on design through operations concepts; in addition there is some consolidation of credits—for example purchasing as in LEED EB:O&M credits. “The thing I enjoy sharing with design teams is that LEED is achievable for their projects,” points out Aye. “Of course, it helps to work with people who specialize in it.”
Find an educational resource from the USGBC here, including a LEED v4 reference guide
