If there’s a LEED rated building in your area, whoever built it probably wants you to know about it. LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, a green building standard developed by the United States Green Building Council
(USGBC.)

LEED is essentially a checklist for architects and builders to determine how green a building is. Factors that make a building green include energy use and efficiency, water conservation, indoor air quality, access to public transportation, use of renewable or recycled building materials, and responsible waste management on site during construction.

LEED certification is becoming more common for schools and public buildings across the U.S. and around the world. School districts and parents want high perfomance buildings that lower operating costs over the buildings lifetime, increase teacher retention rates and improve student learning. Several states, cities and counties have passed regulations mandating all new public buildings or major renovation projects meet a minimum LEED requirements. Other LEED buildings are built by companies that want to maintain their green vision or experiment with green technologies.

There are different levels of LEED (from lowest to highest) Certified, Silver, Gold and Platinum. To find out if there is a LEED building near you do a search on the USGBC website, then see if you can take a tour to learn about its green features.

More on green buildings from Green Options:
Green Building Tour: Genzyme Center
Green Building Tour: Kelly-Woodford Home

Green Building Tour: Plaza Apartments