One thing to look out for - while teams can now pick either Option 1 or Option 2, note that each options have point limitations. Under Option 1, projects can only earn a maximum of half the points available under Option 2.

3) It's difficult to start with a fully formed idea that works everywhere. LEED is slowly growing and adapting. LEED started in the US and became very popular. Others outside of the US wanted to use it too. Some have customized LEED to their own local standards. Tristan mentioned that there's also talk of an international version that's in developement.

With so many nations and so many standards it takes a long time to learn details about all of the standards, common business practices, and forming them into one performance metric that is strict enough to show a significant improvement over the average building.

I imagine a building in the top 10% energy efficency performance in Germany is a bit different than one in the top 10% in China. What may be good design in one country can be average in another, and overly strict in yet another. What may be important to one country may not be important in another. How do we write one standard that is good everywhere?

2) Those unwilling to change usually get left behind in the business world. There's always people willing to try new things and innovate.

I've been hearing stories that at some universities the architecture students are pushing the professors to learn more about green design.

1) This can be a difficult topic. How do we put a cost on clean air and water. When someone is only interested in immediate profits then it usually takes the government issuing a new building code to force that person to do the right thing.

In the US the government cannot require everyone to build to LEED so they tried to lead by example and many new government buildings are LEED certified. Both State and Federal. This has gained a lot of attention for LEED and probably encouraged others to follow with certifying their own buildings.

Profit has motivated many business to get their buildings certified. I've heard of some studies that showed LEED buildings were able to gain 10% higher rents in the US. If the public is very interested in being green then give them a choice and they'll choose living or working in a LEED building over a non-LEED building.

To try and answer your points.

1) This is a problem in the US and many other countries. People resist change. USGBC goal with LEED is to be market changing. To encourage people to change what typical business means.

2) Sometimes this happens. When submitting for the credit an explanation should be added to explain why the different calculation is just as good as the US version. They may respond with a request for additional information. Converting the calculations to metric units would not be a problem.

3) I'm not sure on this. What credit are you referring to? Like SSc1 refers to the 100-year flood plain. I'm sure local weather data can be used to calculate the elevation of the 100-year flood plain for your site.

4) It's possible that they will accept this if the water is treated on site. Since this is not a typical location expect the reviewer to ask a few questions to verify water quality and documentation.

5) Read thru here and see if your question is answered.
http://www.leeduser.com/credit/NC-v2.2/WEc1.1-1.2

Would this guideline also apply to district renewable energy systems, i.e. a large PV array located on a campus?

Just curious about a few things.

1) Why three posts in a row today from 3 people about the challenges of using LEED in China? Did something happen to drive this sudden interest?

2) It seems like these posts are suggestions to try and change LEED for use in China. If so they are misdirected. This website has no influence in changine LEED. You should direct your comments towards www.usgbc.org. And it may be difficult. They usually only accept comments for 45 days out of every 3 years regarding suggested changes to LEED. I submitted 10 suggested changes during the LEED-2009 review process and was not successful in changing LEED on any of them.

3) USGBC is the UNITED STATES Green Building Council. I'm not surprised a system (LEED) designed for use in the US has issues when applied to other countries. I have heard of other countries adopting the LEED rating system for use in their countries. There's the Indian Green Building Council, Canadian Green Building Council, Green Building Council Brazil, and about a dozen others. If your group is so passionate about this you could start the China Green Building Council. Then make a LEED-China rating system that works in China.

4) I agree the Refernce Guide needs more detailed guidance and instruction about many credits. That is why some entrepreneurs started this website to help fill a need. If you have a question about WEc1 try looking it up on this site. If that doesn't help then ask for help. Someone usually responds.

Dr. Xing,
In my opinion, I don't think it is necessary to translate everything. However, all relevant information shall be translated.

Grace, there is no expiration date for a LEED certification for D&C systems (NC, CS, CI, Schools). That is because these certifications are for the design and construction, which is a one-time event.
USGBC encourages projects to go on to do LEED-EBOM, and you can start work on that anytime, but it's not required for a D&C project.

Interesting question. If this were only about selecting a LEED rating system, I would say that it falls under LEED for New Construction, not LEED for Homes, due to the lack of kitchen facilities in the buildings. I'm getting this from LEED rating system selection policy.
However, your question is more about definitions for SSc2 and SSc4, than about picking a rating system. The LEED Reference Guide, under SSc2, gives a definition for "residential area" which does not mention dormitories, hotels, etc. Based on that I would call this commercial—and that reinforces the rating system selection component. I'm going to see if I can get another opinion, though.