The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), purveyor of the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) green-building certification scheme, has decided to delay implementation of its long awaited 2012 revision to the LEED standards until mid-2013. To avoid confusion, the revised standard will be named LEED v4.
"LEED 2012 has always been envisioned as a significant step forward in the rating system, one that would raise the bar on performance, and push all the players in our industry – everyone from the architects to the product manufacturers to the financial community – to the next level," said Rick Fedrizzi, president, CEO and founding chairman of USGBC, in a blog post announcing the delay. "However, as we've gone through public comment on LEED 2012, and engaged in hundreds of discussions with our members, the LEED community and numerous other stakeholders, we have heard repeatedly that while our community continues to fully embrace our mission, they need more time to absorb the changes we're proposing and to get their businesses ready to take the step with us."
Fedrizzi said the public comment period showed stakeholders are especially concerned about the "infrastructure" changes - the forms, documentation, training and online support systems for processing LEED certifications, and that those upgrades will continue through a possible ballot in June 2013.
USGBC has also added a fifth public comment session from Oct. 2, 2012, through Dec. 10, 2012, to take advantage of the organization's Greenbuild conference in November, which includes public forums and educational sessions to help stakeholders better understand the requirements as well as any final changes in the new version. In the meantime, LEED 2009 and LEED for Homes will continue to be open for registration for three more years.