New LEED Green Building Standards

Enlarge Image Image Gallery LEED Gold Certified Building Photo Courtesy of flickr by http://www.flickr.com/photos/suttonhoo22

Tackling climate change and improving energy efficiency are the new priorities for the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system. Known as LEED 2009, the most recent U.S. Green Building Council’s green building certification has changed to reflect today’s main environmental concerns.

Builders will still get credit for recycling, water conservation and improving air quality, but 25 percent of the credits will now be given for solutions that reduce the project’s carbon footprint, up from 17 percent from the past rating system.

LEED 2009 will also give extra credit to those builders that take into consideration a project’s geographic location; for example, water conservation in the Southeast and energy efficient heating in the North.

Technical innovations will also be incorporated in LEED 2009, which will allow major technical developments to be tested and evaluated and ultimately incorporated into LEED.

More about green building standards

• Boulder has been the leader in green building for decades. But did it set the bar too high?

• Find out how the Citi data center in Frankfurt, Germany became the first of its kind to earn a Platinum LEED rating.

• Want your home to be LEED-certified? Here's what you need to know.