Understanding LEED for Homes

The LEED Rating System is the nationally recognized standard for green building. LEED certification recognizes and rewards builders for meeting the highest performance standards, and gives homeowners confidence that their home is durable, healthy, and environmentally friendly. The LEED for Homes program was developed for builders seeking to build certified high performance green homes that go beyond energy efficiency to incorporate a high level of sustainability features. Building a project that is LEED for Homes certified offers a distinct mark of excellence that can serve to highlight the builder’s experience. For the homebuyer, LEED is like the highly recognized nutrition label that demonstrates in measurable terms that a home incorporates efficient techniques and features, and that the final product has been third party-verified and performance tested.

The U.S. Green Building Council created the Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) program as a national third-party certification rating system that recognizes leadership in green building. LEED was introduced in 2000 and incorporates commercial, neighborhood and residential construction certification rating systems. The LEED for Homes program started as a pilot in 2005 and was launched as a fully chartered program in 2008.

LEED for Homes Raters and Providers

Each LEED for Homes registered project is inspected by a LEED for Homes Green Rater under the guidance of a LEED for Homes Provider. Providers and Green Raters are local organizations and individuals with demonstrated experience with green building. A LEED for Homes Provider has four primary roles in a given market:

• Marketing LEED to builders;
• Providing green home rating support services to builders;
• Coordinating a team of LEED for Homes Green Raters.
• Submitting and certification of the project with USGBC

Earth Advantage Institute is the third largest LEED for Homes program provider in the country, helping builders and designers to achieve certification for high performance home projects all over the Western United States and its territories. Earth Advantage has assisted project teams in achieving certification in Oregon, Washington, California, Idaho, Alaska, Hawaii, Minnesota, New Mexico, Wyoming, Montana and Tennessee.

To learn more or sign up, please contact Earth Advantage Institute or visit www.usgbc.org/homes for further information.