February 12th, 2009 by Administrator

Next year, the United States Green Building Council will be downgrading its role where eco-friendly buildings are concerned. Or at least it won’t certify buildings anymore with its trademark Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification.

Effective January 2009, the US Green Building Council, the origin of this increasingly imperative ratings system, will consign such function to the Green Building Certification Institute.

This shouldn’t be a cause for worry, any more than NASA will be overseen by harmless and tech-savvy aliens. After all, GBCI is a sister organization of the USGBC. In turn, GBCI will administer and accredit independent certifiers and assessors.

This is USGBC’s way of surmounting the exponential growth of the number of projects looking to be LEED-certified. No rules have been changed anyway; LEED will still be the exacting body of standards that it is.

One is bound to have reservations about these moves though. Now that the USGBC is away, there might be no stopping big-time firms from buying their way into silver, gold, and platinum certifications.

However, LEED 2009 will have more rigid standards so perhaps this danger will be substantially negated given that naturally, higher standards would make it well-nigh impossible for one corporate entity to suddenly acquire certification.

Learn how CEMEX is helping the environment with its sustainable practices.

CEMEX Davenport Wins Overall Environmental Excellence Award.

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