Beyond Platinum

GREEN BUILDING LEADERSHIP IN ENERGY & ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN (LEED)

The E+ Green Building Program requires buildings that are environmentally positive and exceed LEED for Homes Platinum, the highest certification level. LEED is the US Green Building Council’s internationally-recognized green building certification system that provides building owners and operators with a framework for identifying and implementing practical and measurable green building design, construction, operations, and maintenance solutions. LEED for Homes scales credit requirements to the size of the home and measures and verifies practice.

LEED focuses on eight key impact categories:

Sustainable Sites
Discourages building on previously undeveloped land; seeks to minimize a building’s impact on ecosystems; encourages regionally appropriate landscaping; rewards smart transportation choices; and promotes reduction of stormwater runoff, erosion, heat island effect and construction-related pollution.

Water Efficiency
Encourages smarter use of water, inside and out. Water reduction is typically achieved through more efficient appliances, fixtures and fittings inside, and water-conscious landscaping outside.

Energy & Atmosphere
Encourages commissioning; energy use monitoring; efficient design and construction; efficient appliances, systems, and lighting; the use of renewable and clean sources of energy, generated on-site or off-site; and other innovative measures.

Materials & Resources
Encourages the selection of sustainably grown, harvested, produced, and transported products and materials. Promotes waste reduction as well as reuse and recycling, and espcially rewards the reduction of waste at a product’s source.

Indoor Environmental Quality
Promotes strategies that improve indoor air quality as well as those that provide occupant access to natural daylight and views and improve acoustics.

Locations & Linkages
Encourages building on previously developed and infill sites and away from environmentally sensitive areas. Rewards homes that are built near existing infrastructure, community resources, and transit and in locations with access to open space for walking, physical activity and time outdoors.

Awareness & Education
Encourages home builders and real estate professionals to provide homeowners, tenants and building managers with the education and tools they need to understand what makes their home green and how to make the most of those features.

Innovation in Design
Rewards the use of innovative technologies and strategies to improve a building’s performance well beyond what is required by other LEED credits, or to reward green building considerations that are not specifically addressed elsewhere in the LEED rating system.