Design is Never Done: LEED for Homes

Last spring, I took a test, passed, and became a LEED Green Associate. Most people probably have never heard of LEED or if they have, it may seem a little confusing. LEED GA, LEED AP, LEED Certified...what the heck do all those acronyms even mean?? Also, aren't they all for big buildings so they don't concern me? But there, my friends, is where you're wrong.

LEED Platinum Beach House in Encinitas, California [source]

Did you know there is a special section of LEED just for residential homes? Did you know that by building a green home you can actually save a lot of money...and your aesthetics don't have to suffer?

Really?? Tell me more...

LEED Platinum Home in Manhattan Beach, CA [source]

Let's start at the beginning. LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design and was created by the U.S. Green Building Council. LEED is a tool for green building that provides third-party verification of buildings. Buildings must first satisfy prerequisites then they can earn points off their checklist by using different green building strategies to earn different levels of certification.

LEED Silver House in Palm Springs [source]

For example, say you're wanting to build you house. That would fall under LEED for Homes. Some of the other rating systems include LEED for Schools, LEED for New Construction, and LEED for Retail. You get the idea.

LEED Gold House in DC Metro [source]

When you actually work with a team to build you home to LEED standards, you have a checklist and by doing certain things on the checklist, you earn a certain number of points. You don't have to do them all and you can pick and choose which strategies would work best for your project. For example, you can earn 4 points by setting up a rainwater harvesting system (and p.s. also by doing that, you're not having to pay for water to water your plants outside!).

LEED Gold House on Siesta Key [source]

The number of points you earn determines your level of certification. In LEED for Homes there are 136 available points. 45-59 points is Certified. 60-74 points is Silver. 75-89 points is Gold and 90-136 is Platinum. So if you fell into the Silver category you would say that your home is a LEED Silver Home.