A three-ring binder dated April 1999 and filled with about 200 photocopied pages was the reference guide for LEED v1.0—the pilot version of LEED sent to USGBC members from its headquarters, which was then located in San Francisco. Comments were requested during the pilot period, which ran to December 1999.
The rating has come a long way since LEED v1.0, which had credit categories paired with verbs to get the point across, like “Safeguarding Water” and “Planning Sustainable Sites,” but the DNA of today’s LEED is clearly present in that original version.