LEED Rating System
What is the LEED Rating System?
In order for a building to becoming LEED certified, the building must meet minimum requirements. These requirements are determined by a LEED rating system. The rating system involves breaking the rankings into different categories, which are: sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials and resources, and indoor environmental quality.
Categories
These categories have a maximum and minimum number of points needed to pass each one, and they must all total up to at least 40. The rating system is broken down into four categories of certification. Earning 40-49 points is certified and is the bare minimum, 50-59 is silver, 60-79 is gold, and 80 and higher is platinum. Reaching a platinum level is the ultimate level, and the building will be stored in the database of the US Green Building Council and may be eligible to be stored in a type of hall-of-fame portfolio of the highest accredited green buildings.
Different Rating Systems
Rating systems are not universal; there are so many types of buildings that are constructed for different purposes that it wouldn’t make sense to have just one rating system. Instead, types of buildings are broken down into categories that are dependent upon the building’s purpose. These categories are: new construction, existing buildings: operation and maintenance, commercial interiors, core and shell, schools, retail, healthcare, homes, and neighborhood development.
With all of these different types of construction, there is no way that these buildings can be ranked on the same things. For example, buildings for retail stores are not going to have to have the same building layouts as homes or healthcare facilities. The latter buildings are going to require having more extensive plumbing as well as different types of lighting and lighting fixtures, which are only a few of the differences.
Guidelines
Each rating system has a set guideline that lists the minimum requirements and prerequisites that are necessary to fulfill prior to a building being eligible to certify. Again, these requirements will differ with each category. In addition, under each category, there are different rating systems, so it is important to thoroughly understand the type of building that is being created in order to pick the correlating rating system. If the project falls between more than one rating system because of the different aspects of the project like the construction and space usage type, then choose the one that the project falls under more. The LEED team is fully responsible for choosing the correct rating system; if an incorrect one is chosen, the project will be denied during the application process and the team will have to figure out which rating system is the right one before re-submitting the application.
Tags: LEED, LEED Certification