New LEED Certification Process Gets Green Thumb's Up

The U.S Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program (LEED) is now offering developers and property owners a chance to participate in “volume certification.” This new, streamlined certification program gives developers and owners the option to speed up the project certification process by working directly with the Council to establish a prototype that meets LEED standards and can be applied to multiple projects at once.

According to the Council, all properties must be individually certified by LEED, but the process is based largely on spot checks by Council inspectors and self-reports from developers and owners. Also, all project components — water fixtures, electrical equipment, paint, etc.— will only have to comply with the prototype standards once before being used on other projects.

As of September 2008, the U.S. Green Building Council has pre-certified seven multiple project applicants and currently has several more applications under review.

Source: NREI Online