LEED to Address Energy and Resource Savings in Existing Buildings
Recognizing that the 4.5 million existing buildings in the United States can achieve a 20% to 30% reduction in energy use, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) recently announced a partnership between ENERGY STAR and Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, (LEED) to help ease the nation’s energy crunch.
The USGBC is introducing LEED for existing buildings. LEED is the USGBC’s sustainable building rating system for certifying green design and construction in new buildings, which has already been adopted by a large number of private and public concerns for new construction projects. During the past year, the USGBC has been developing green building standards for existing-building upgrades and operations.