LEED Rating Paper

1471 Words6 Pages

The United States Green Building Council is a voluntary, nonprofit organization created in the early nineties to promote energy efficiency and environmental design. The council developed a rating system, know as Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), that has become a nationally adopted set of green building standards for designing, constructing, and certifying buildings in the United States. LEED utilizes a rating system that address the individual needs of the project and then awards four levels of certification (certified, silver, gold, and platinum) based on how well the project rated. (Wargo, 2010) There are five overarching categories of specialties under the LEED program; Building Design and Construction, Interior Design …show more content…

(Killough, 2014) Business can do a lot to ensure they score high in this category; by using LEED ratings as a guide when designing their facility, businesses can incorporate a wide range of energy saving strategies. Strategies include establishing energy plans, which includes monitoring energy performances, engaging in renewable energy production, and reducing/managing refrigerants to eliminate carbon emissions. (LEED V4, …show more content…

This category comprises of credits in the rating system that were chosen by the United States Green Building Council to urge businesses to address regional environmental concerns, social values, and public health concerns. (LEED V4, 2016) Credits are listed on the council’s website for each region represented. Recognizing and focusing on the top environmental issues of a region allows a business to consider and incorporate into their building design elements that are particularly important to a certain geographical region within a country. The regional concerns of the South West (water conservation) vary dramatically from the regional concerns of the North East (Heat