LEED ’09 to include credits for regional environmental priorities

Washington, D.C. The U.S. Green Building Council has released the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design regional credits as part of LEED 2009, the new version of the LEED Green Building Rating System. The regional LEED credits encourage that specific regional environmental priorities be addressed when it comes to the design, construction and operations of buildings in different geographic locations.

“Because environmental priorities differ among various regions of the country -- the challenges in the Southeast differ from those in the Northwest, for example -- regionally specific credits give LEED a way to directly respond to diverse, regionally grounded issues,” said Brendan Owens, VP technical development, USGBC. “The inclusion of these regional LEED credits is the Council’s first step toward addressing regional environmental issues.”

With the help of USGBC’s regional councils, chapters and affiliates, credits addressing six specific environmental issues within a region were identified from among the existing LEED credits.