Use of LEED v5 Calculators for LEED v4/4.1 projects

Laura Long

Sr. Designer, Sustainability and Sr. Associate

NORR

LEEDuser Premium Member

22 thumbs up

February 18, 2026

Good afternoon,

We can no longer use Excel macros due to security concerns. Do you envision any issues with us manipulating LEED v5 calculators to complete what is required for LEED v4 and 4.1?

Thanks,
Laura

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Grace Friedhoff

Sustainability Consultant | Senior Project Manager

Re:Vision Architecture

LEEDuser Premium Member

10 thumbs up

Fri, 02/20/2026 - 18:18

I admittedly have not spent too much time with the LEED v5 calculators yet, but I would imagine that - for most credits - it does not translate 1 to 1. I would be very reticent to suggest using a v5 items for v4. There are enough changes in almost every single credit that I'd assume you'd have a hard time ensuring that the v5 calculator is doing what you need it to do for v4. Additionally, https://support.usgbc.org/hc/en-us/articles/25316160948755-LEED-v5#substitutions, according to USGBC you can not substitute (like the way you can v4 to v4.1). See below snippet from the above link:

Can LEED v5 credit substitutions be used for LEED v4 or LEED v4.1 projects?

No. At this time, LEED v5 credit substitutions are not available for previous versions of LEED.