The U.S. Green Building Council announced that beginning on April 8, 2016 all new projects registering for LEED 2009 must meet increased minimum energy performance thresholds. The energy standard and modeling requirements in LEED 2009 are not changing, and buildings may use the same methods and standards to meet the requirements. However, four Energy Performance credits will now be required in order to now meet the achievement.
This could mean big changes for most LEED projects. Currently, buildings must demonstrate a 10% improvement in the proposed building performance rating for new buildings, according to LEED 2009. With new standards, this threshold increases to 18% improvement in building performance rating for new buildings. These improvement numbers will still be based on comparison to the baseline building performance rating method according to Appendix G of ASHRAE 90.1-2007.
While these changes are positive in terms of increasing energy efficiency, projects that are considering LEED certification need to plan ahead now. The program change will impact the current projects being planned over a period of years. It is important to register all current plans pursuing LEED 2009 by April 7, 2016.
Affected project types include:
- LEED 2009 New Construction
- LEED 2009 New Construction Retail
- LEED 2009 Core and Shell
- LEED 2009 Schools
- LEED 2009 Healthcare
- LEED 2008 Multifamily Midrise
- LEED 2009 Commercial Interiors
For more information, download the complete LEED 2009 Energy Performance update summary of changes.
