LEED energy performance requirements increase

ENR NEWS ALERT
Energy Performance Requirements within LEED Rating System to Increase 14%
The U.S. Green Building Council’s membership overwhelmingly approved a new requirement for all LEED certified projects to achieve at least two “Optimize Energy Performance” points within LEED, which will improve the energy performance of all LEED certified green buildings by 14% for new construction and 7% for existing buildings.
Beginning today, all newly registered commercial LEED projects will be required to achieve the two “Optimize Energy Performance” points within LEED. The new requirement will reduce the environmental and economic impacts associated with excessive energy use and maximize energy performance of buildings through cost effective energy efficiency measures. To help projects achieve the new energy reduction requirements, a prescriptive compliance path is currently under development as an alternative to energy modeling. The two mandatory points will count towards a project's LEED certification.