“LEED-ing the Way” Webinar Details Growth of LEED Certification Program
July 30, 2010On July 14, Cleantech Group offered a webinar titled “LEED-ing the Way: The Future of Green Building,” which gave an overview of the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®) certification system.
The webinar discussed the ways in which LEED applies to a full range of commercial and residential buildings and the “LEED for Neighborhood Development” program, which will be utilized by cities in the future as a guide for residential development.
The steps to LEED certification are 1. Registration of building project; 2. Track progress and document achievement; 3. Apply for certification with the Green Building Certification Institute (the LEED- certification institute).
Awareness and participation in LEED have grown in recent years, and LEED is now used in over 110 countries and over 1 million square feet of commercial building space is now certified per day.
Individual state green building policies are encouraging sustainable living, as well as the job creation that results from LEED-certified buildings and projects. The USGBC is working to encourage local and federal policies that drive market transformation both through the implementation of LEED as well as general better building practices.
The green building sector in the U.S. has recently been focused on retrofitting buildings- approximately half of LEED-certified space is existing building space. In densely populated and developed areas, the focus tends to be on retrofitting existing structures rather than building new ones. In other areas where development and urbanization is occurring very quickly (China, for example), green building is much more focused on the new building market.
To view the slides from the webinar, please click here.
American Architectural