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© Copyright U.S. Green Building Council, Inc. All rights reserved.
Intent
To reduce outdoor water consumption through efficient landscaping practices.
Requirements
Reduce the landscape area planted to turf grass by landscaping with plants that are native or adapted to the region. Points are awarded according to Table 1.
Table 1. Points for reducing turf grass and increasing native plantings, as percentage of total landscape area
Turf grass area | Native or adapted plant area | Points | |
---|---|---|---|
< 60% | and | > 25% | 1 |
< 40% | and | > 50% | 2 |
< 20% | and | > 75% | 3 |
< 5% | and | > 75% | 4 |
Lists of native plants are maintained by the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, the North American Native Plant Society, state agencies, and local cooperative extension service offices and others.
Project with pools and other outdoor water features must use WE Credit Total Water Reduction.
See all forum discussions about this credit »What does it cost?
Cost estimates for this credit
On each BD+C v4 credit, LEEDuser offers the wisdom of a team of architects, engineers, cost estimators, and LEED experts with hundreds of LEED projects between then. They analyzed the sustainable design strategies associated with each LEED credit, but also to assign actual costs to those strategies.
Our tab contains overall cost guidance, notes on what “soft costs” to expect, and a strategy-by-strategy breakdown of what to consider and what it might cost, in percentage premiums, actual costs, or both.
This information is also available in a full PDF download in The Cost of LEED v4 report.
Learn more about The Cost of LEED v4 »Frequently asked questions
See all forum discussions about this credit »Documentation toolkit
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LEEDuser’s Documentation Toolkit is loaded with calculators to help assess credit compliance, tracking spreadsheets for materials, sample templates to help guide your narratives and LEED Online submissions, and examples of actual submissions from certified LEED projects for you to check your work against. To get your plaque, start with the right toolkit.

© Copyright U.S. Green Building Council, Inc. All rights reserved.
Intent
To reduce outdoor water consumption through efficient landscaping practices.
Requirements
Reduce the landscape area planted to turf grass by landscaping with plants that are native or adapted to the region. Points are awarded according to Table 1.
Table 1. Points for reducing turf grass and increasing native plantings, as percentage of total landscape area
Turf grass area | Native or adapted plant area | Points | |
---|---|---|---|
< 60% | and | > 25% | 1 |
< 40% | and | > 50% | 2 |
< 20% | and | > 75% | 3 |
< 5% | and | > 75% | 4 |
Lists of native plants are maintained by the Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center, the North American Native Plant Society, state agencies, and local cooperative extension service offices and others.
Project with pools and other outdoor water features must use WE Credit Total Water Reduction.