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Page 26 THE VILLADOM TIMES I & II • April 30, 2014 LEED embodies green building, maintenance, operation Embracing an eco-friendly lifestyle is more than just recycling cans and newspapers or campaigning for endan- gered species. Smart environmental living also extends to homes and offices. In recognition of that, the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design system, often referred to as LEED, was established to exemplify green building, maintenance, and operation in offices, homes, and neigh- borhoods. LEED is essentially a rating system for the building and maintenance industry. Established by the U.S. Green Build- ing Council, LEED has become an internationally recog- nized mark of excellence. According to the USGBC, LEED provides building owners and operators with a framework for identifying and implementing practical and measurable green building design, construction, operations, and main- tenance solutions. Since the system was created in 1998, LEED ratings standards have been applied to more than 7,000 projects in the United States and 30 additional coun- tries, and more than a billion square feet of developed area has been LEED classified. Various parameters must be met before a building can receive LEED certification. LEED requires a set of prereq- uisites and credits. Prerequisites include required elements or strategies that must be included in all LEED-certified projects. Credits are extra incentives that can be included in projects to work toward LEED certification. The rating system generally uses a numeric scale of 110 points for buildings, while LEED for Homes has a scale based on 131 points. Credits are allocated based on the environmental impact and human benefits of the buildings and operations. Projects can receive basic certification between 40 to 49 points, and Platinum status is reached at 80-plus points. LEED v4 is the next incarnation of the rating system and will focus even more on increasing the lengths to which projects go to employ green goals. While the rating system was developed through an open, consensus-based process that involved USGBC volunteers and working groups, third parties are responsible for veri- fying that a building, home, or community was created using strategies aimed at high performance in environmen- tal health. These include, but are not limited to, water sav- ings, energy efficiency, sustainable site development, and indoor environmental quality. USGBC says LEED is flex- ible enough to apply to all project types. LEED is also internationally known and accepted, and in 2003 the Canada Green Building Council received per- mission to create LEED Canada-NC v1.0. Examples of LEED-certified structures include the Phipps Conservatory & Botanical Gardens in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, which has multiple LEED certifications, including the world’s first Platinum-Certified greenhouse. Shearer’s Foods plant in Ohio is the first food manufac- turing plant to receive LEED Platinum status. Since 2011, Taipei 101 has been the tallest and largest green LEED Plat- inum-certified building in the world. Individuals can visit www.usgbc.org and search the USGBC directory of more than 64,000 registered and certified LEED projects to see how each achieved certification.