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| The LEED for Homes program has been under development for several years. The pilot demonstration phase of LEED for homes was rolled out in 12 local markets in August 2005. The pilot phase will continue through June 2007, at which time the program will be rolled out on a national scale. In preparation for this expansion, USGBC plans to develop a LEED education program, select several highly qualified LEED for homes faculty to deliver these trainings, and select approximately 20 new LEED for Homes Providers to deliver the program in new local markets. |
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LEED for Homes does not compete with existing green home building programs |
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A recent survey found that there are over 80 local and regional green home building programs in the U.S. The target market for LEED is the top 25 percent of new homes in terms of environmental responsibility. Most of the other green home building programs target the other 75 percent of the marketplace. From this perspective, LEED does not compete directly with these other programs. In fact, LEED plans to work collaboratively with these other program to promote green home building. There are many opportunities for synergy, including education and marketing. As stated above, six of our 12 pilot Providers are already running some of the most successful green home building programs in the country. These Providers approached USGBC with a proposal to offer LEED in combination with their current local program. |
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LEED for Homes is for all types of housing |
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The LEED for Homes program is designed to provide industry best practices on how to green any new home. Two related myths are that LEED does not work for affordable homes, and that it does not work for production homes.
LEED directly addresses and rewards the inherent resource efficiency of smaller, affordable homes, especially those that are built in more urban settings. A special working group of 45 national affordable housing experts was formed to review the early pilot version of LEED for homes to assess how well it addressed the unique needs of affordable housing. Several of the first LEED homes to be certified were affordable homes.
LEED also recognizes the unique needs of production home builders. We are in the process of refining the sampling protocol and a community scale approach to the certification of entire subdivisions of LEED Homes. Currently, we have approximately 15 production builders participating in the pilot, including several that have committed to building large subdivisions of LEED homes. |
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LEED homes are very cost-effective to build |
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The reality is that the net cost of owning a LEED home is the same as a code home. A brief explanation follows. The typical cost of an entry level (i.e., certified) LEED home is about 3 to 5 percent higher than a home that is built to code. For an averaged priced $300,000 new home, this means a cost increment of about $10,000 for the additional green measures. When this $10,000 cost increment is amortized over 30 years, the result is an increase in the monthly mortgage payment of approximately $70 per month. This amounts to a cost increase of about $2 per day - for all of the feature and benefits of a LEED home (e.g., healthier, more comfortable, more durable, energy efficient, and environmentally responsible). However, if you also weigh in the approximately 30 percent utility bill savings from a LEED home, the utility bill savings are approximately $70 per month. So, the bottom line is that the increase in the cost of the monthly mortgage payment is about the same as the monthly utility bill savings. And so the net monthly cost of a owning a LEED home is the same as the monthly cost of owning a home that is built to code.
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LEED certification fees vary by Provider |
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The LEED for Homes Providers offer in-field, third-party verification services to builders of LEED homes. They are allowed to set their own prices for these verification services. Anecdotally, in the pilot, some builders have been charged as much as $3,000 to verify pilot LEED homes. In general, this cost breaks down into three somewhat equal parts: (1) the verification cost, (2) related consulting costs, and (3) travel costs. In other words, the actual cost of verifying a LEED home is only a portion of the fees that may be charged by LEED for Homes Providers. It is important to discuss each of these costs with the Provider. As a builder gets more experienced with LEED for Homes, and as more markets have their own local LEED for Homes Provider (e.g., lower travel costs), the cost of verification services should fall below $1000 per home. Further, in high volume production environments, a HERS-like sampling will be allowed. With sampling allowed at the rate of one in seven homes, verification costs for production builders will be substantially less.
Two related myths are that intensive documentation is required, and that a builder must hire many consultants. Both of these myths are completely false. The documentation requirements for LEED h are very streamlined, and only require six forms to be completed, and the Provider is responsible for most of that work. No additional consultants are required in LEED, other than the LEED for Home Provider. |
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The home size credit is being refined |
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The home size credit (MR 1) has received more comments than any other of the LEED for homes credits. It is the only credit with a "stick" or penalty. The LEED for homes committee has listened to these comments and made a number of refinements to the home size credit, including:
Increased the number of bedrooms (with no upper limit);
Changed the presentation from a credit with penalty points - to an input value at the top of the checklist that enables you to determine the number of points needed for each of the four performance tiers (i.e., certified, silver, gold, and platinum)
Substantially reduced the number of additional points (or credits) required for large homes. |
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LEED for homes was developed by hundreds of experts in the building industry
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Hundreds of experts have played a role in developing LEED for homes and builders have played a central role including their role as committee members, reviewers, and active pilot participants. To date, much of the constructive criticism of LEED has come from builders. The whole purpose of the pilot is to allow builders to “road test” LEED and to provide feedback.
Many important refinements have already taken place in the program due, primarily, to builder feedback. During the remainder of the pilot, additional builder feedback will enable LEED for homes to hit the streets in June 2007 as a program that is "highly-tuned" for builder use. |
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Architects have a vital role in LEED |
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One of the most common lessons learned in LEED for homes is that the green measures were not integrated into the design process early enough. The LEED for Homes Provider is required to conduct a plan review with the builder before construction starts. Preferably this design review should be done at the earliest phase of the design process. Thereafter, the architect’s role is to effectively integrate all of the suggested green measures into the home design. Currently, many builders do not work with architects. Some builders may never choose to work with architects. However, the reality is that a good design will provide a builder with two vitally important benefits:
A true integrated design, based on building science, rather than a bunch of components kludged together;
The opportunity to take advantage of substantial cost streamlining opportunities that can reduce the overall cost of green upgrades by as much as 40 percent.
USGBC will work with architects to create awareness with builders of these benefits of high quality designs in LEED homes.
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USGBC Chapters are also expected to have a vital role in LEED Homes |
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USGBC Chapters are expected to play a vital role in the both marketing and facilitation of training for the LEED for Homes program. Most of the USGBC Chapters are currently very focused on the commercial LEED products. However, most are anxious to engage with LEED for Homes as it rolls out in their local markets. USGBC staff is currently working with the Chapters to ensure that they are educated about the LEED for Homes program and that they are poised to support the program when it rolls out early next year. A critical step in this process is for the local Provider and Chapters to begin discussions about how they can most effectively work together to grow LEED for Homes in their respective local markets. |
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USGBC is evaluating addressing the greening of existing homes |
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USGBC is very interested in addressing existing homes, but this presents some major challenges for a whole house rating system (like LEED for homes). It does not make sense to address the green-ness of a whole house when only a few rooms have been upgraded (e.g., with an addition or partial renovation). LEED includes gut or substantial rehab projects but does not include partial rehab projects.
To address existing homes, USGBC is planning to provide detailed best practice guidelines (for the greening of existing homes) on its website. This Web site will include best practices for both renovations, and operations and maintenance of green homes and their component
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There are over 80 local and regional green home building programs in the U.S. but there is no national consistency |
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A detailed review of the most successful of the local and regional existing green home building programs revealed that these programs have widely varying definitions for green home building. As a result, there is a lot of confusion about what green home building means at a national level. Some programs are heavily focused on energy efficiency, while others focus more on green materials, or on occupant health. Clearly, there is a need for a more consistent definition for green home building. LEED was developed to redefine green at the national level - as a high performance home in each of the five LEED resource categories (i.e., energy, water, materials, sites, and indoor environmental quality).
A related misperception is that it is not possible for LEED for homes to adequately address unique regional needs. LEED was designed to include different criteria for various climate regions, precipitation zones, radon zones, and termite infestation zones. The program also includes a process for adding a limited number of regionally appropriate credits. The future success of LEED is closely tied to how well it addresses unique regional needs. Every effort has been made to ensure that the LEED program will work equally well in all parts of the country. |
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Summary |
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Over the last 12 months, many valuable lessons have been learned in the LEED for homes pilot. With these lessons, both the rating and the delivery systems have been greatly improved. With eight more months remaining in the pilot, many more improvements are expected.
If you have concerns or suggestions about how to improve the LEED for Homes Program, please send your comments to leedinfo@usgbc.org. We would like to hear from you. |
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