LEED Building Rating System Explained: How Contractors Gain Approval
The Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Building Rating System is designed to guide property owners and building contractors on sustainable green construction practices. LEED is a third-party certification program and the nationally accepted yardstick for the design, construction and operation of high-performance green buildings. Once you work within the LEED construction standard, your green building project will unfold like magic.
Here’s the LEED Building Rating System broken down into three simple parts
- LEED NC for New Construction
This is applicable to new commercial, institutional, and high-rise residential buildings. This LEED building rating system also includes government buildings, recreational facilities, manufacturing plants and laboratories. It addresses sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials and resources, indoor environmental quality, innovation in design and regional priority.
- LEED EB for Existing Buildings
The LEED building rating system applies to existing buildings as well as new construction, and although LEED is a voluntary program, getting its official recognition projects a positive green image to the public. Green building certification is required by many cities and states for public buildings, or they will provide tax credits and grants if you do an eco-friendly remodel to make an existing building green.
- LEED CS for Cores and Shells of Buildings
This covers a building’s structure, envelope, and basic mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems, which are items suitable for speculative buildings. A LEED green building rating is achieved through earning points in each of the categories the program addresses. Within each category, there are subcategories including prerequisites. The system is flexible in that it is performance-based, and does not oblige the applicant to pursue a narrowly defined set of conditions.
An evaluation device that is realistic and user-friendly in nature, LEED serves builders, proprietors and designers alike, and it is a method by which green building design and building might be put into practice and held to the highest of standards.