The US Green Building Council (USGBC)developed the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) to certify that buildings are built Green. I’ve never been a fan of the LEED certification process and convince my customers it’s not worth the hassle and costs. Here’s why:

1. LEED doesn’t save energy.
2. LEED doesn’t “Just cost a few percent more” than conventional buildings.
3. LEED doesn’t require long term utility cost reporting to verify actual energy use.
4. LEED doesn’t provide superior buildings.

A recently filed lawsuit against the USGBC stipulates that LEED doesn’t save energy. Here’s an excerpt from that lawsuit found at Best Practices Construction Law:

3. USGBC claims that buildings certified as LEED buildings are more energy efficient than non-LEED buildings: USGBC advertises that buildings “certified under the U.S. Green Building Council’s [LEED] certification system are, on average, performing 25-30% better than non-[LEED] certified buildings in terms of energy-use.”  Similarly, USGBC’s advertisements claim that LEED “provid[es] third-party verification that a building or community was designed and built using strategies aimed at improving performance across all the metrics that matter most: energy savings…”

4. Both claims are false. First, LEED-certified buildings are no more energy-efficient than non-LEED certified buildings. USGBC’s own study data on the subject indicate that, on average, LEED buildings use 41% more energy than non-LEED buildings. There is no objective empirical support for the claim that LEED buildings consume less energy. LEED buildings are less efficient because the criteria that USGBC purportedly uses to certify buildings do not correlate with energy efficiency.

The LEED certification points go in so many directions, energy savings can easily get lost to indoor air quality and other more subjective concepts. The lack of a standard for actual energy use over time illustrates the failing of the LEED method. USGBC requires lots of documentation, prepared by USGBC certified professionals, to certify a building is green. This costly documentation misses the most important element. How does the facility actually perform?

As we tackle the recession and higher energy costs, I hope the construction industry sees the opportunity in designing and managing buildings for energy efficiency. ASHRAE seems much more likely to lead this charge effectively than USGBC.