From: WorldChanging: Another World Is Here: LEED @ Home
The US Green Building Council has released its long-awaited draft of LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) standards for homes. LEED-compliant commercial buildings are both remarkably energy-efficient and provide interior environments friendly to workers. With the release of the LEED for Homes draft, developers and homeowners can see what steps are the most critical for making a home a green house.
Technically, what the USGBC has released is a set of guidelines for pilot projects meant to test the utility of the various elements on the LEED for Homes checklist. It’s likely that, once the pilot projects are completed and analyzed, the LEED for Homes rules will be modified. These projects will be built in 12 different regions (PDF) in the United States; interestingly, while most locations (including big states like California, Florida and Texas) are covered by single providers, Colorado has three.
Even if you aren’t a developer, potential home buyer, or even in the United States, the LEED for Homes guidelines make interesting reading. The Pilot Rating System document (PDF) explains the goals of the LEED for Homes project in more detail, and discusses each item on the LEED for Homes checklist in full. The draft checklist (PDF) itself includes numerous references to issues that we’ve talked about frequently on WorldChanging, including: site density, permeable pavement, rainwater harvesting, high-efficiency lighting, and more.
It’s particularly interesting to see the relative credit scores for different items. Highest rated individual items (not counting “packages”): up to six points for renewable energy use, six points for “very high efficiency fixtures (toilets, showers and faucets),” and up to ten points for “Home that is Smaller than National Average.” Those three items alone can put a house 2/3s of the way to LEED certification, presuming that the various “required” features are in place. LEED silver, gold and platinum levels, of course, would need substantially more effort.
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