LEED Program

The U.S. Green Building Council is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization committed to cost-efficient and energy-saving green buildings. The USGBC membership includes builders, environmentalists, corporations, non-profit organizations, elected officials, teachers and students. All are committed to developing greater building efficiencies which can meet 85% of future U.S. demand for energy. They also seek to generate up to 2.5 million jobs.

 

USGBC’s stated mission is as follows: “To transform the way buildings and communities are designed, built and operated, enabling an environmentally and socially responsible, healthy and prosperous environment that improves the quality of life.” USGBC supports this effort with the following programs: LEED Green Building Rating System, Education and Emerging Green Builders. Emerging Green Builders and Education are instructional programs on building design, construction and operations for professionals. These programs teach how to create healthier, more productive and more efficient places to live and work.

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LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is an internationally recognized certification system that measures how well a building or community performs across all the issues that matter most: Energy Savings, Water Efficiency, CO2 Emissions Reduction, Improved Indoor Environmental Quality, and Stewardship of Resources and Sensitivity to their Impacts. LEED is flexible enough to apply to all building types – commercial as well as residential.

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LEED is a voluntary certification program that can be applied to any building type and any building construction phase. The key performance areas recognized are: Sustainable Sites, Water Efficiency, Energy and Atmosphere, Materials and Resources, Indoor Environmental Quality, Locations and Linkages, Awareness and Education, Innovation in Design and Regional Priority. LEED enables project teams to deliver certified performance for their buildings. The Green Building Certification Institute assures that LEED buildings are constructed and operated as intended.

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American Art Stone can help you with LEED credits in the following ways:

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1. All raw materials are harvested within 500 miles

2. All materials are assembled within 500 miles

3. The percentage of post-consumer materials

4. The percentage of pre-consumer materials

 

For more information about the U.S. Green Building Council and the LEED Green Building Rating System, please visit www.usgbc.org.

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Note: Some information items herein are excerpts from the U.S. Green Building Council website.