LEED Recertification is Easier Than You Think
Image courtesy of author.
“If you can't measure it, you can't improve it.”
This famous quote by the late Austrian American management consultant and author, Peter Drucker, has become an aphorism in the green building industry. Designing and constructing buildings with intentionality is good. Measured and verified performance outcomes are even better. Verified performance is the future of green building certification. Increasingly, I have clients who desire to better understand how their LEED certified building assets are actually doing.
The best answer: show me the data.
Thankfully, there is an app for that. It is called Arc Skoru (or simply "Arc"). It is easy to use. You can access its basic functionality for free. And it supports a streamlined pathway for LEED recertification.
If you are planning to pursue LEED recertification using Arc, you will find more details in the following resources from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC):
Recertification Guidance for LEED Buildings (USGBC, October 2018).
LEED v4.1 Operations and Maintenance (O+M) Beta Guide (USGBC, February 2024); see the “How Recertification Works” section.
USGBC Help Center: LEED Recertification (via USGBC.org).
Below, I have addressed ten common questions specific to LEED recertification that I have received, which may not be so clearly or pointedly addressed in the officially published material.
1. First, the basics. What is Arc?
Arc is an online platform developed by Green Business Certification Inc. (GBCI) to facilitate the collection, management, and analysis of performance data for buildings and spaces. It enables projects to track measurable performance across five key categories: energy, water, waste, transportation, and human experience.
For projects pursuing LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification or recertification, Arc can serve as a tool. By inputting relevant performance data into Arc, project teams can receive a performance score (think LEED points) that indicates how well their project is operating in each of the five categories category. An total rating score provides an indication of the potential LEED certification level achievable upon submission for review. The score needed for recertification functions like LEED points totals for certification. If the total score is 40 points or higher, the project may be submitted for LEED certification or recertification. (Note that a previous LEED certification contributes up to a maximum of 10 base points.)
Additionally, Arc supports ongoing performance monitoring, helping certified projects maintain and improve their sustainability credentials over time.
2. Is Arc free?
If you wish to pursue LEED v4.1 recertification under Arc, access to the Arc platform is free. The registration fee is waived. However, there is a certification fee that must be paid in order for GBCI to review the project and verify LEED recertification.
3. Why should I consider recertification? Does my project's existing LEED certification expire?
LEED certification under the Building Design and Construction (BD+C) rating system adaptations (NC, CS, etc.) and the Interior Design and Construction (ID+C) rating system adaptations (CI, Retail, etc.) do not expire. However, certification under LEED for Building Operations and Maintenance (O+M) does expire (see below).
Big picture: the value in recertifying a building that already achieved BD+C or ID+C certification when it was originally designed and constructed is in the verification and follow-through - it is in the affirmation of delivering on the commitment of high-performance and sustainability. Through LEED recertification, you can "prove it," which reinforces messages internally and externally.
4. How does LEED recertification work?
Once a team registers a project (which may or may not have been previously LEED certified) through Arc, the team will need to submit performance data across five categories - energy, water, waste, transportation, and human experience - across a consistent 12-month performance period.
As data is inputted, a score will be generated based on points accrued through the performance metrics.
Once data has been completely inputted into Arc for the duration of the performance period, the project may be submitted to GBCI, who will perform a recertification review and award a maximum 100 LEED points as follows across the five performance categories:
- Energy performance: 1-33 points
- Water performance: 1-15 points
- Waste performance: 1-8 points
- Transportation performance: 1-14 points
- Indoor Environmental Quality Performance: 1-20 points
- Prior LEED Certification: 10 points
A project team may accept the results of the GBCI review, at which point LEED recertificaiton becomes official. Through LEED recertification, projects can achieve a higher LEED certification level than originally achieved during project design and construction.
5. If I start tracking performance in Arc and the project scores worse than my initial LEED certification, does my project lose its current certification?
No. The score is only only official if it is submitted for certification. If your current LEED project scores poorly, that knowledge and the opportunity to respond accordingly is very reason why performance-based recertification matters.
Poor performance will not result in a revocation of the project's original certification achievement. A building can never lose its LEED certification achievement. There is no "LEED police" and nobody is coming to take the plaque off of your wall (which would be a bad look for everyone). The date on the plaque is the accountability mechanism. If your LEED plaque says "2009" it sends a very different message than if it says "2025." If your project earns LEED recertification, consider getting a new plaque.
Figure: LEED recertification can be earned by reporting performance data through Arc Skoru.
6. Does LEED recertification expire? Will I have to do it again in a year?
By nature, managing existing buildings is an ongoing process. As such, certification under the LEED O+M rating system does expire. It is the only LEED rating system that requires projects to recertify.
LEED O+M certifies the sustainability of the ongoing operations and maintenance of existing buildings - therefore, LEED O+M certifications expire after 3 years (v4.1) or 5 years (v2, v2009, v4) unless the building becomes recertified. Expired O+M projects have the option to recertify. It is not yet confirmed how this process may be different in LEED v5.
LEED O+M projects have two options for achieving recertification:
- Credit-based approach in LEED Online;
- Performance based approach in Arc.
LEED O+M recertification using Arc constitutes the performance based approach. A convenient aspect of recertifying using Arc is that teams are not required to complete any LEED credit forms, implement policies, or make construction changes. Instead, the team will enter information in Arc under the five categories and the data will determine the project's LEED score.
7. What exactly is the bare minimum that I have to report to pursue LEED recertification in Arc?
Let us acknowledge that the "bare minimum" question is a pragmatic one. There is a cost to entry in terms of time, money, personnel, etc. What is it for LEED recertification?
a. Basic building data. Arc will require some one-time basic information regarding square footage, number of occupants, etc. This information may remain static or can be updated over time.
b. Energy consumption data across the 12-month performance period. This data may be inputted directly by a user or automatically reported from the ENERGY STAR PorfolioManager. Consumption data will need to be inputted per applicable meter.
c. Water consumption data across the 12-month performance period. Again, this data may be manually inputted or transferred from PortfolioManager. Consumption data will need to be inputted per applicable meter.
d. Waste generated and diverted across the 12-month performance period. The data for both metrics will need to be entered in monthly intervals.
e. Transportation data based on an annual occupant survey. At least one time during the 12-month performance period, an occupant survey will need to be conducted to collect the data needed to calculate carbon emissions from transportation to/from the project by regular occupants. A minimum response rate must be achieved to generate a score (typically 25%). The survey is automated through Arc and the data is aggregated within Arc. Your job would simply be to distribute the survey.
f. Human experience data based on an annual occupant survey along with air quality data. At least one time during the 12-month performance period, an occupant survey will need to be conducted to collect the data from building users regarding their experience of the building. This is the same survey used for the transportation data. Additionally, air quality data will need to be gathered through testing.
If air testing proves to be problematic (it can be too expensive and/or complicated in some instances), USGBC does allow LEED recertification without a Human Experience score, but only if 40 or more points are achieved through energy and water performance.
8. What kind of air quality data is required?
For many project teams and owners, air quality data reporting will be the trickiest part of LEED recertificaiton.
Arc will also allow one to input air quality information across more than a dozen data points. However, only two of the data points are required: carbon dioxide (CO2) and total volatile organic compounds (TVOC).
Air quality data may come from continuous monitoring (via installed sensors) or from one-time air testing. There is flexibility here. The project team may use any measurement method capable of measuring CO2 and/or TVOC and use their best judgement when determining the number of sampling locations, and frequency and duration of testing. Laboratory-based test methods for TVOC are recommended by USGBC but not required.
TVOC data must be reported in µg/m3. CO2 data must be reported in ppm.
If using one-time air testing, USGBC recommends that teams input CO2 and TVOC measurements using the Arc Data Template (which can be accessed within the Arc platform).
If using continuous monitoring, USGBC recommends that teams sync data directly to the Arc platform via data integration.
Arc will calculate the project’s average 95th percentile CO2 value and maximum TVOC value and part of the Human Experience score will come from these values.
9. Can older LEED projects pursue recertification through the five performance prerequisites via Arc?
Yes. Projects originally certified under older editions of LEED, such as LEED v2009, can pursue LEED v4.1 recertification through the five performance prerequisites via Arc.
10. Is the LEED Dynamic Plaque still available?
Though the spirit of the LEED Dynamic Plaque is alive and well, the product itself is no longer available in its original form. Initially introduced by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) as a tool to monitor and display real-time building performance across the five categories recorded for recertification—energy, water, waste, transportation, and human experience—the Dynamic Plaque has since evolved. In 2016, USGBC transitioned to the Arc platform, which expanded upon the capabilities of the Dynamic Plaque by providing a comprehensive performance scoring system for buildings and spaces. This platform allows projects to track performance metrics and pursue LEED certification or recertification based on actual operational data.
While the specific "LEED Dynamic Plaque" is no longer in use, its functionalities have been integrated and enhanced within the Arc platform, which supports enhanced building performance tracking. A dynamic digital interface could use data from Arc.
