With all that is circulating in regards to Green/LEED/Sustainablity/Eco-Friendly what does it really mean? Most consumers are probably aware or will be aware of LEED. But what is it really?
LEED (Leadsership in Energy and Environmental Design) for Homes is a voluntary initiative to actively promote the transformation of the mainstream home building industry towards more sustainable practices. LEED for Homes is a national branding that consumers can look for, to readily identify high performance, eco-friendly homes. All LEED homes are third party inspected, performance tested, and certified to be higher performing than conventional homes.
LEED for Homes has designed a rating system that awards various levels of achievement in adopting resource efficiency in a home and defines this with four levels, or performance tiers: Certified, Silver, Gold & Platinum. This tells you as a consumer, how effectively your home performs in the areas of health, safety and operating costs.
A LEED rating also tells you how well your builder performed in terms of resource efficiency and environmental stewardship when he/she built your home. Think of it like the ‘star rating’ within a hotel system. You know what you are getting in the areas of comfort, service and amenities at a hotel that has been given a ‘4 star’ rating. With green home building, a LEED rating tells you that you are getting a home that is healthier to live in, has lower operating costs, and had lower impact on the environment as it was built.