MisLEEDing?

A number of problems could undermine the long-term credibility of the U.S. Green Building Council's (USGBC) Leadership in Environmental Design rating system (LEED), according to a recent report by Platts, the energy information division of the McGraw-Hill Companies, Boulder, Colo.

The Platts report, "Ensuring the Sustainability of Sustainable Design," suggests the LEED system is over-simplified and sometimes does not give an accurate measure of a building's green qualities.

A high number of LEED points does not necessarily mean a building is providing more environmental benefits, says Jay Stein, a managing director at Platts and co-author of the report.

In the report, Stein and his partner, Rachel Reiss, cite a LEED-certified recreation center in Boulder that features six electric car charging stations as an example of the discrepancy.

Stein says the building still receives full points for the feature even though there are few electric cars in the area that would require the chargers.

Discrepancies between the installation of green features like electric car chargers, solar panels and wind-power generators and their practical use depending on the environment are not accounted for in the LEED point system, says Stein.

The system, publicly launched in 2000, was designed by the USGBC as a way to define and measure green building practices. LEED awards buildings points for using environmentally