A new standard for green homes

Over the last few years, the U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification program has garnered a lot of attention in the media. What you may not know is that there are actually nine LEED programs.

The original program, LEED for New Construction, is the one we've heard the most about. This is the rating system under which your local school, library, or commercial office building has likely been certified. As LEED has been employed on more types of buildings, however, specific rating programs have been developed to provide a transparent program that ensures a positive impact. 

LEED for Homes
After many years of volunteer work and consensus building, the USGBC unveiled one of its newest certification programs this past January: LEED for Homes. People looking to build new homes now have a standard to work toward. 

LEED for Homes criteria include the familiar areas of a home's energy and water efficiency, indoor air quality, use of environmentally preferable building materials, and a few new categories, like "Location and Linkages" and "Awareness and Education." 

Building a mansion? Well, you're going to feel a little pain. LEED for Homes includes negative points for having an overly large home. This controversial provision was included in the standards because size really is at the root of resource consumption and ongoing efficiency. 

In contrast to the LEED projects you may have heard of, certifying your home under this new program differs from the other rating programs, because you must work closely with a LEED for Homes Provider throughout the design, construction, and certification of your home. Only after your project has been vetted by one of these providers can you register it with the USGBC. 

You will also likely contract with your LEED for Homes provider to garner a pre-construction Home Energy Rating System (HERS) rating and to complete the onsite inspections necessary for LEED certification. After construction, this onsite work will typically include a blower door test (to test how tight the house is) and a duct blast test (to gauge the tightness of the ductwork), among other activities. 

The LEED for Homes pilot phase included approximately 400 builders and covered 10,000 homes across the United States. 

Check out some of the cool designs and accomplishments in this archive. USGBC has teamed with Environmental Design + Construction magazine to offer a paid, three-part webinar series on LEED for Homes. The third program, "The Delivery Process," will be presented on April 9, 2008. 

Improving your current house
LEED for Homes may sound great, but if you're like me you're not going to be building a brand new home anytime soon. Luckily for us, the American Society of Interior Designers has teamed with the USGBC to create Green Remodeling Guidelines under the brand REGREEN. The program literature is full of guidelines, case studies, and other information to help you make the best decisions for your remodeling project. 

And for those who won't even be remodeling soon, check out this handy list of quick retrofits. (You know the drill: CFLs, weather-stripping, programmable thermostats, etc.) Taking the time to make these small changes-and sharing them with people in our neighborhoods-can really start to affect the way we use energy and other natural resources. 

If you haven't done so already, consider discussing your utility consumption and expenses with your neighbors to begin the conversation. 

Steve Brauneis is a Sustainable Design Consultant with the Built Environment Team at Rocky Mountain Institute.