While officially neutral on green-building rating systems, the American Institute of Architects (AIA) recently parsed three of them in an effort to evaluate how well they align with the association’s sustainability goals. In its report, which was released in May, it carefully avoided picking a favorite of the three systems: t he U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED NC 2.2, the Green Building Initiative’s Green Globes, and The International Initiative for a Sustainable Environment’s SBTool 07. The intent of the study was simply to assess their strengths and weaknesses, says Jessyca Henderson, an AIA staff architect. “The AIA is neutral,” she

When the American Institute of Architects and the U.S. Green Building Council jointly announced on May 28 their intent to form a strategic alliance, many in the industry wondered exactly what that meant. One question that arose: Is the AIA getting ready to endorse LEED? “No,” is the answer from both sides, although Peter Templeton, USGBC’s senior vice president for education and research, says he certainly would appreciate the association’s support. “Of course we would like AIA to recognize the value of LEED,” he says. The announcement, which can be read on the AIA’s Web site, says the groups have

The results of two recent studies—one carried out by the New Buildings Institute (NBI), the other by CoStar Group—show that green building standards are not only effective, but also escalate property values.  The post-occupancy studies, both released in March, attempted to measure the value of buildings with sustainability features compared to conventional buildings. They also aimed to demonstrate the effectiveness of third-party certification programs, specifically LEED, administered by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), and Energy Star, managed by the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy. One study confirmed that new LEED-certified buildings use less energy than

The U.S. Green Building Council is giving the public a look at the first fruits of its sweeping revision of the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program. On May 19, the organization posted the working draft of LEED 2009 for a 30-day public comment period. LEED 2009 is the rating system component of a larger program referred to as LEED Version 3 (LEED v3), which will replace LEED 2.2. Other features of the new program include a revamped online project management tool and an expanded third-party certification process. In general, LEED 2009 increases the rating system's emphasis on

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) is planning to revamp its popular Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system in an effort to make it more user-friendly. USGBC hopes to create, with some exceptions, one LEED system instead of having LEED for residential, for example, and LEED for commercial. It expects to roll out the new system next fall. Another likely change is that LEED will address life cycle analysis, something many of the users would welcome. USGBC is “harmonizing and aligning credits” across all LEED rating systems, the group says. This will make the system more “adaptive

Former President Bill Clinton took the stage at the U.S. Green Building Council’s sixth annual Greenbuild conference in Chicago yesterday morning and, before a crowd of 6,000 people who gathered to hear his keynote address, described the green building movement the nation’s largest economic opportunity since the country mobilized for World War II. “It’s not going to be easy, but we have to move away from the carbon economy,” Clinton said, adding that he considers green building to be “perhaps the most important cause we can be involved in today.” In a lightly political speech—we are facing an election year,

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) is set to launch its LEED-for-Homes program at the organization’s annual Greenbuild conference in Chicago next week.