By Steve Rizer
Expect the new version of the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating system to include an expanded scope for water efficiency, Green Building Services Principal Richard Manning told professionals attending a webinar that WPL Publishing held earlier this month. The official release of “LEED v4” is scheduled for next month during USGBC’s “Greenbuild International Conference and Exhibition” in Philadelphia.
USGBC intends to expand the scope of water efficiency to encompass total building water use, Manning reported during the 90-minute webinar, entitled “Introducing LEED v4: The Next Version of LEED.” Before LEED v4, the rating system “pretty much” only addressed indoor plumbing fixtures and outdoor irrigation, “but now we’ve got process water and metering and some other things to make water a little bit more important” and be covered “a little bit more holistically” by LEED, he said.
Also expect changes for indoor air quality (IAQ). There will be a different standard for volatile-organic-compound (VOC) limits and off-gassing of materials, Manning reported. The new standard will be “really looking at how materials off-gas, not just their VOC content.” There will be “slightly different criteria in how we select materials based on their VOC emissions.”
Among the other things that LEED v4 will do are the following, Manning said:
- Increase the emphasis on energy and the associated impacts by allocating 20 percent of all points to building energy efficiency.
- Add new requirements for enhanced commissioning.
- Encourage support of products extracted and manufactured from domestic and local sources.
To purchase a recording of the webinar, click here.
