The U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) program became a prominent and widely used green standard when the federal government mandated its use on their buildings. Other consensus-based green standards lost momentum as architects who worked on federal projects saw restrictions in their design options. Architects tasked with designing energy-efficient buildings quickly adopted LEED’s point-based rating system on a variety of projects—not just those that were federally funded.
While there are numerous areas in which the LEED program has contributed to the USGBC’s stated purpose, which is “to help building operators save money and resources and have a positive impact on the health of occupants, while promoting renewable, clean energy,” there is one component of the LEED program that is having quite the opposite effect in certain situations.