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December 17, 2007Professionals who are interested in the LEED program must take an exam to become a LEED Accredited Professional (AP). Once they have successfully become accredited, they can be hired as a LEED consultant. In fact, having a LEED AP as a principal on the project gets one point toward certification! The LEED AP usually leads the way in getting the project certified by managing the requirements submitted online via the USGBC website. The website is the comprehensive guide to certifying a building and all documentation must be submitted through its online interface.
NOTE: All information pertaining to points and details of the rating system is based on New Construction V2.2 -- for information on other rating systems, please visit the USGBC website.
There are 4 levels of certification. They are as follows:
- LEED Certified: 26-32 points
- LEED Silver: 33-38 points
- LEED Gold: 39-51 points
- LEED Platinum: 52-69 points
Within the rating system, there are six categories. In most categories there is at least one prerequisite. This applicable condition must be met in every category in order to qualify for certification. Prerequisites do not count as points.
The following sections contain a brief overview of the rating system. The actual handbook is about 500 pages and includes suggestions for implementation of each credit.
The LEED rating system uses codes that are already in existence as a baseline for building guides. Most commonly, it uses existing ASHRAE (American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air-Conditioning Engineers) codes.