LEED Expands to Include Retrofits
Staff -- Consulting-Specifying Engineer, 4/1/2002
With the recent launch of the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED-EB for Existing Buildings pilot (www.usgbc.org), the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program is no longer limited to just new construction.
Since its inception in 2000, only newly constructed buildings—approximately 250,000 each year—have been eligible to participate in this environmental performance certification program. However, with the new pilot program, eventually more than 4.5 million existing U.S. buildings will be afforded the option of qualifying for green building certification.
"LEED-EB provides existing building owners and operators with a tool kit for systematically reducing the environmental impacts of their buildings and for maintaining these reductions," explains Michael Arny, co-chair of the Council's LEED-EB committee.
Based upon the original LEED blueprint, this new program establishes criteria to evaluate environmental performance based upon sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials and resources and indoor environmental quality. Additional points of evaluation include cleaning and maintenance practices and ongoing monitoring, measurement and management of all building systems.
