At the annual Greenbuild conference, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) launched Insight, a new data-driven tool that highlights building project design features that can lead to better performance.

Insight is available as a feature of the Arc platform and provides information on the design attributes of LEED certified buildings within a specified geographic region. Project teams can then compare and rank potential sustainability strategies to see how they stack up against the performance of other buildings. Insight leverages the depth of the existing LEED data to aid designers and builders in adopting smart, practical and achievable sustainability strategies.

“The Insight tool is all about partnership, innovation and green building performance,” said Mahesh Ramanujam, president and CEO, USGBC. “USGBC has a vision of a performance-oriented future and the trajectory of LEED is to continue to improve the performance throughout the lifecycle of buildings. Holistically, LEED enables the best possible buildings – and with tools like Insight, it will also allow building owners and city leaders to better track progress toward their environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals.”

Insight can be leveraged by LEED and green building teams to improve the design – and eventually performance – of their buildings by encouraging the implementation of best practices during the design and construction stage. Insight helps green building and LEED project teams identify practices that could improve building performance and eliminate those that pose a risk to their long-term investment. The new tool is part of USGBC’s continued efforts to leverage data and technology to encourage more informed decisions around sustainability.

Insight was created in partnership with Skanska – a project development and construction group – and also USGBC member company and longtime supporter of the green building movement. Experts from both organizations worked together over two years to develop the tool.    

“Insight can compare your project team’s aspirations for energy, water and waste savings with results from similar buildings in your region, which allows you to visualize how the performance of your project stacks up to other buildings like yours and will help you make informed decisions about practical and achievable sustainability strategies,” said Beth Heider, FAIA, chief sustainability officer, Skanska USA. “Skanska is proud of this work alongside USGBC that provides design phase insight to the Arc platform.” 

The ability to consider the impact of strategies and decisions will help building teams be more effective in tracking sustainability performance and progress. Insight supports teams pursuing LEED certification, as well as projects that are already certified, but are committed to maintaining a high level of performance or seeking recertification.