LEEDs Guidelines & Rating System
Today in the United States, the most widely known tool for improving the environmental performance of a building is the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) green building rating system, developed by the U.S. Green Building Council. LEED provides a “shopping list” of design and engineering options to improve the environmental performance of a building or site along with a voluntary certification system to reward compliant buildings. This system essentially gives equal weight to most environmental benefits and produces a composite “score” for the sum of all measured sustainability criteria.
LEEDs is notable for its consensus-based, market-driven approach to encouraging green commercial buildings (RMI, 1998). The development of the system has received extensive input from the Council's membership, which represents many facets of the buidling industry, including manufacturers, architects, developers, and environmental organizations (RMI, 1998).
One shortcoming of the LEEDs system is its lack of "systems view." A systems viewpoint would award a point for the avoidance of a material or for use of a system to achieve gains in other areas. For example, as the rating system stands, a point could potentially be obtained by installing recycled carpet or bike racks even if they are otherwise not needed or inconsequential. Another shortcoming is that LEEDs does not consider health and safety, especially construction worker safety.
Reference
Rocky Mountain Institute. 1998: Green Development: Integrating Ecology and Real Estate. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. New York. p. 330.
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