Continuous Improvement of the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®) Rating System™

The U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Rating System™ has had a significant impact on the market in the United States and is beginning to affect markets around the world. First launched in the late 1990s, LEED has undergone periodic revision, including updates as well as addition of new versions that address different markets and enhance technical quality of the credits. In 2006, the USGBC initiated a continuous improvement process that will result in a LEED system that is more technically robust and easier to use. This paper describes improvements that are underway using a proposed framework for analyzing green building rating systems. This framework encourages a broader and deeper analysis of rating systems, looking beyond the technical metrics to include the purpose and goals of the system, the context in which it is applied, the scope of the system, the metrics, and the processes used in its implementation.