Spotlight on LEED

The U.S. Green Building COUNCIL’s LEED^® Rating System continues to grow and mature, generating new interest and challenging the ability of staff and volunteers to keep it working smoothly. The original LEED Rating System for new construction and major renovation—now called “LEED-NC”—has one or two newly certified projects each week, and registrations keep rolling in. As of USGBC’s Greenbuild 2003 conference, 74 projects had been certified under LEED-NC (including versions 1.0, 2.0, and 2.1) and just over 1,000 had registered. There are over 5,000 LEED-Accredited Professionals, and the budget for LEED-related programs at USGBC is approaching $10 million annually. “LEED” is now an officially registered (^®) trademark of USGBC.