USGBC Extends LEED 2009 Registration

November 5, 2014 1614 Views Banks County, Eastern U.S., health and safety, lighting power density, Regional Medical Center, remote, Sherrif's Department, Skanksa

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) is giving the building industry additional time to prepare for LEED v4, the latest version of LEED.

The USGBC announced Oct. 29 that LEED users will be allowed to register projects under the LEED 2009 rating system until Oct. 31, 2016. The new date is more than a year after the original deadline of June 15, 2015, when new projects would have to be certified using LEED v4.

“When USGBC launched LEED v4 last year, we set out with one goal in mind – to raise the bar in a way that challenges the building industry to reach higher than ever before. This is our nature and USGBC and its members’ collective mission,” said Rick Fedrizzi, CEO & founding chair, USGBC, in a statement. “However, the market has requested additional time to prepare for LEED v4, so we are responding.”

When the USGBC surveyed attendees during the 2014 Greenbuild International Conference and Expo in New Orleans, 61 percent of respondents said they are not ready or are unsure if they are ready to pursue LEED v4, and that they require additional time to prepare. Extending LEED 2009’s availability enables USGBC to work with the broader industry within a longer time frame to drive meaningful and comprehensive change.

“Our international LEED users, which account for some 50 percent of new LEED registrations, have also indicated they would like to have more time to move onto the new rating system,” Fedrizzi noted. “This extension will be especially helpful to them.”

LEED v4 has been in the market for nearly one year and will remain available for those market leaders who are ready.

“LEED v4 wasn’t designed to be easy. It is the next generation of green building, and we are confident the market will meet us there as they have in years past,” Fedrizzi said. “When USGBC first pilot tested LEED in 1998, there weren’t many buildings that could qualify for LEED certification at the Platinum level. Now, more than 1,000 buildings have achieved it. With LEED, we have a responsibility to set a high bar and we know that many leaders are capable of reaching it, presently or in the very near future. We want to support our LEED users as they move the market forward with us, and allowing them to utilize the LEED 2009 rating system for a little longer will help facilitate that.”