At the U.S. Green Building Council's (USGBC) annual convention in Denver, (GreenBuild) in November, USGBC president Rick Fedrizzi challenged owners and designers of sustainable buildings to intensify their LEED® certification efforts to the highest level, platinum. Fedrizzi said that if a building achieves platinum LEED certification, the certification fees will be complimentary. Fedrizzi's challenge will be very welcome in Washington, which is set to become the first large U.S. city to require that new buildings incorporate "green" features promoted by USGBC.

These would include low-flow showers, recycled building materials, hallways that would encourage walking, drought-tolerant plants, and systems that would improve IAQ. According to theWashington Post(November 16, 2006), the D.C. city council was poised to approve legislation next month, which would mandate that most large commercial and city-funded residential buildings would need to meet these new building standards by 2012.