Tristan - Nice article and review of the LEED "Feedback Plaque" as some folks are calling it. You asked for our feedback on the plaque itself as well and I have to admit that I'm conflicted. On one hand, I do see the benefit to having a dynamic tool that allows property owners and passers-by to see their building's performance in real time (or as close as possible to real time). In a sense, the building's behavior mimics the behavior of the building users themselves. It's a very unique way to engage people in a manner that's slightly more meaningful than the static etched glass "trophy."

That being said, there are a number of ways this tool misses the point. The main one being, LEED is losing favor in the industry. Yes, there, I said it! Despite everyone's efforts to use LEED as a tool to promote sustainable and environmentally sensitive business practices, the industry is moving away from it in rapid fashion; especially with the dawn of v4, a seemingly overly complicated rearrangement of well-established LEED terminology for no apparent reason at all. Developers and corporations who would have otherwise continued to support LEED are floating away.

Furthermore, the design industry is outright scared of v4. They don't understand the change, don't see a need for the change, and don't accept the change. What this translates into is a host of design professionals and project financiers who are fine with self-policing v3 protocols and forgoing the pomp and circumstance associated with the next LEED rating, and most of all, they are forgoing the plaque. Many companies have internalized a lot of what LEED has to offer, the market for green building products has shifted irreversibly upward, and energy codes have caught up to LEED in all but the most obscure US real estate markets. There’s a global focus on GHG and carbon reduction, alternative energy generation, and ending oil dependency. Through all of this discussion and shift in global initiatives and prioritization, LEED (and to a certain extent, the USGBC as an organization) has not been mentioned.

All this being said, the prognosis is not all doom and gloom. The fact that the global leaders are beginning to recognize and publicly address the long-term negative socio-economic impacts of climate change on our world is encouraging, albeit decades late. In my opinion, the USGBC has an unprecedented opportunity to propel LEED into the climate change discussion in a way that cements it into the minds of people throughout the world. They can do this, not by flashing a new fancy electronic plaque, but by directing LEED’s efforts toward responsible and resilient development, community interaction and education, and fostering a sense of unity and parity between socio-economic classes.

LEED has the potential to be so much more than a “green building rating system.” LEED has the potential to be a “life experience rating system.” The fact that the USGBC has spent years developing the “Feedback Plaque” and countless incoherent tweaks to an already confusing and frustrating rating system, just proves that they have lost their way. They have lost the sense of community that LEED provided to design and construction professionals from 2005 to 2012 and have instead directed their attention to mass commercialization and “process.” My hope is that the USGBC will regain its composure, throw v4 and this plaque idea out the window, and revisit what made LEED such a powerful and unifying tool for designers. Perhaps those same characteristics can be used to unify and heal this troubled world we live in.