LEED 2012 Reschedule and Reviewed for 2012 V4 Release

Dive into LEED V4. Image Credit: US Green Building Council.

LEED 2012 has now been renamed Leed v4 and the date of release has been delayed until 2013. Along with the delay of the date, there are also several major changes to the ones previously released for public comment. US Green Building Council (USGBC) president Rick Fedrizzi has this to say about the release:

 We’ve decided to delay ballot on LEED 2012 until June 1, 2013, (or potentially sooner in 2013 if our members and the market tell us they are ready). We will use this time to deliver on the infrastructural improvements to the LEED program already underway.

LEED EB O+M, one of the categories, now has new compliance paths and standards for Schools, Retail, Warehouses and Distribution Centers, and Data Centers. For hospitality projects, there are also new compliance paths for LEED ID+C. For large scale green neighborhood projects, the LEED for Neighborhood Development rating system has been split into two rating systems: the LEED for Neighborhood Development Plan (LEED-ND Plan) and LEED for Neighborhood Development (LEED-ND). There are also new compliance paths for Mid-Rise projects.

The pending Leed v4 also has a proposed new category: Location and Transportation, taken from “Alternative Transportation” subcategory in the Sustainable Sites category.

The Sustainable sites category will have an “Environnmental Site Assessment” credit.

There is a new prerequisite for Materials and Resources— “Construction demolition waste management”, while Building Reuse credits have been renamed into Building Reuse credits.  Several new credits have also been created, including Material Ingredient Reporting, Responsible Extraction of Raw Materials, and Avoidance of Chemicals of Concern.

WaterSense-labeled fixtures will be required for “water use reduction” credit under Water Efficiency. Cooling tower water will also be given new credit.

A new credit has also been created: Enhanced Indoor Air Quality Strategies—from Outdoor Air Delivery Monitoring, Indoor Environmental Quality and Increasing Ventilation. Low-Emitting Interiors also resulted from the merging of Low-Emitting Materials.

These are a run-through of some of the changes in the new LEED, subject to being finalized for its v4 release.