LEED Pilot Program Sees Growth

 

The library allows for feedback on usability and the ability to meet a credit’s intent while accommodating flexibility, according to council officials.

 

"Innovation doesn’t follow a schedule.  The LEED pilot credit library provides the thousands of volunteers around the globe who are engaged in LEED development with the ability to introduce credit ideas for testing as they emerge,” said Brendan Owens, vice president of LEED Technical Development. “This unique flexibility allows LEED to evolve interactively and accelerates the market transformation LEED was created to catalyze.”

 

The program was first launched with seven credits in 2009, and has grown to more than 40 credits for products ranging from LCA of building assemblies to medical process equipment and efficiency.

Council officials said pilot credits create dialogue among LEED users and interested stakeholders about how to effectively deal with the challenging interdependencies and complexities that the LEED program faces in the future.

 

“Pilot credits are multi-stakeholder market tests.  We expect dramatic changes to credit content to occur during the pilot test periods,” Owens said. “Feedback from projects actively engaged in the application of the concepts being tested by pilot credits coupled with active dialogue with other stakeholders fuels an interactive process that seeks to optimize credit structure and operation prior to making it an official part of the rating system.”

 

LEED project teams that find proposed credits suitable to their projects are encouraged to participate in pilot testing, where they submit evaluation forms to provide input on its strengths and weaknesses, engage in dialogue via the LEED user website and share their views on the future of each credit they pilot test.  

 

The feedback is then reviewed by a LEED Steering Committee group to shape improvements to the content of the idea addressed in the pilot credit, according to officials. Each project that participates in a credit’s pilot and submits feedback receives one Innovation & Design or Innovation in Operations point.

 

“We’ve also worked hard to make sure people understand that while project experience using the credit is invaluable, there are numerous appropriate ways to comment on a credit’s intent even if you aren’t actively using it,” Owens added.

 

The program’s partnership with LEEDuser allows feedback from chapters, project teams, and other stakeholders, in addition to letters, emails and public comment periods as the rating system evolves, he said.

 

“There’s plenty of ways for you to be heard and we take all of it into account,” he said. “The green building movement collectively benefits from a robust dialogue around these issues.”

 

Two recent additions to the Pilot Library encourage project teams to explore new credit ideas dealing with Demand Response in buildings and the use of Certified Products.  

 

The pilot library can be accessed at: http://www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CMSPageID=2104.

 

The council also recently announced its integration with Greengrade, an online management software tool for submitting certification applications.

 

The software allows users to communicate, track and manage LEED project information from planning to submission, which Greengrade officials say will significantly increases efficiency in LEED project management by eliminating the need to manage documents and data in multiple platforms and/or software.

 

“Our goal is to continuously increase efficiency in managing LEED projects, thereby increasing the viability of pursuing LEED certifications,” said Mike Stuart, CEO of Greengrade. “Integrating with LEED Online is a big step in the right direction.”

 

In addition to streamlining the use of multiple software tools, company officials said Greengrade’s direct integration increases collaboration across the project team and creates additional layers of accountability, accessibility and the ability to audit.