The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) is offering LEED incentives for actions taken in buildings to mitigate the effects of COVID-19. It also has provided guidance on construction projects, building re-entry for universities and K–12 schools, and facility management.

Safety First pilot credits

A total of six pilot credits are available—four for individual buildings (applicable to v2009, v4, and v4.1 projects) and two for LEED Cities and Communities.

Building tours: they’ve been a vital educational component of green building from day one. But now COVID-19 has made them unsafe. Thanks to the Sustainability Leader Peer Networks we help convene, we’ve compiled a list of online tours and other videos that you can view from the safety of home.

This is by no means comprehensive, so we hope you’ll share your favorites in the comments!

Update: We updated this blog post on 2/9/2021 to reflect major changes made in the Q4 2020 addenda.

In this blog post, we provide a rundown of the v4.1 credits that are easy wins, mixed bags, and unanticipated landmines to help you navigate the opportunities for upgrading to v4.1. Remember: for Building Design & Construction Projects (BD+C), you can substitute any v4.1 credit just by choosing that option in LEED Online.

Editor’s Note: Guest blogger Nicole DeNamur owns Sustainable Strategies, a consulting firm that helps companies manage sustainable innovation by applying a legal and risk-management lens to innovative projects. Prior to launching Sustainable Strategies, Nicole practiced construction and insurance coverage law in Seattle for more than a decade. This article is for educational and informational purposes only. It is not legal, medical, or any other type of advice.  

To our friends and colleagues in the green building world,

We are now, in the most challenging sense, living in interesting times. As of today very few of us in North America are suffering from the illness caused by COVID-19, but we’re all experiencing its secondary effects: efforts to contain it that are shutting down gatherings, schools, and businesses. And, despite our best efforts now, we’re aware that widespread illness and even loss of life are increasingly likely in the near future.

Have you been moving toward electrifying HVAC systems but struggling to find the equipment you need?

Many engineers are in this position—and the Sustainable MEP Leaders are trying to change that. The Sustainable MEP Leaders peer network brings together the most committed sustainability directors from leading MEP design firms throughout North America. Members are in a sustainability leadership role at a firm with a substantial MEP design practice and a passion for helping transform the building and design industry.

If you’ve attempted the Building Product Disclosure and Optimization (BPDO) credits under LEED v4 or 4.1, you probably have war stories about finding, verifying, and documenting those credits—and then potentially having your environmental product declarations (EPDs) or Health Product Declarations (HPDs) rejected because of something you missed in the fine print.

All that frustration is about to go away. Meet the Better Materials initiative from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI).

Have you ever wondered how your building measures up against the highest-performing buildings on the planet? With the Arc online software tool, you can now find out—for free.

After we announced the v4.1 “Should I Upgrade?” content on LEEDuser (scroll down for an example here), we got challenged by Nick Semon of Re:Vision Architecture in Philadelphia:

The Vision

LEEDuser grew out of a very simple inspiration: LEED shouldn’t be so hard!

In 2008, LEED was rapidly gaining traction in the marketplace, but most people felt they needed have to hire a dedicated LEED consultant for every project, jacking up the cost significantly.

The building sector is the largest contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, and heating, cooling, and lighting are all major sources of these emissions. The solution? Good passive design can minimize the need for these end uses even while providing enhanced thermal comfort.

It’s been a while since a LEED update generated much excitement. Not like the heady days of 2009 when v3 was released, and project teams were lining up to get things registered because of the market power LEED was commanding.

There is a mountain of research to support the positive impacts of good daylighting, but there is less guidance on how to do it well. In this blog post and in a related webinar, we’ll look at how LEED v4 is changing that and touch on a new tool—computational design—that helps make the process of designing for daylight and quality views not only faster but also more successful.

The Greenbuild International Conference and Expo is the world’s largest conference and expo centered around sustainable design. Greenbuild is unparalleled in its robust educational and networking opportunities, but it can also be a bit overwhelming. Over the past couple of years, I’ve especially enjoyed a special evening of respite, inspiration, and a profound sense of comradery from a small (but growing) network of sustainable design leaders such as myself.

By Alissa Kingsley

User control may seem antithetical to high-performance buildings: imagine the amount of energy that might be wasted when building occupants are able to adjust the thermostat or open and close windows at will.

Occupants who have perceived control of temperature, however, tend to be more comfortable in their environment. Is it possible for architects to design buildings that are high performance and allow occupants thermal control?