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Public Comment Period for New LEED System Now Open

Go to the USGBC web site to read a draft of the new program and post comments.

Nicholas Tamarin -- Interior Design, 12/2/2008 12:00:00 AM

Want to weigh in on the United States Green Building Council’s latest green rating system? Now through January 5, the power is as close as your mouse pad.

The USGBC opened a public comment period November 17 on its LEED for Neighborhood Development program, which will be the first national certification system for green neighborhood design and development. The public can view a draft of the system on the USGBC’s web site, then offer comments.

LEED for Neighborhood Development was established by the USGBC in collaboration with the Congress for the New Urbanism and the Natural Resources Defense Council. Designed to integrate the principles of smart growth, new urbanism and green building, the new system evaluates projects based on location and linkage to community, neighborhood pattern and design, and green construction and technology. The USGBC began testing the program last year with nearly 240 pilot projects from 39 states and six countries.

"The development of LEED for Neighborhood Development speaks to the breadth of what green building means," says the new program's director, Sophie Lambert. "What was once a rating system solely designed for commercial construction, LEED is now evolving beyond single buildings to address development at the neighborhood scale."