Online Tool Offers Preliminary Scoring for LEED Homes

A new online scoring tool should make the complex LEED for Homes rating system more accessible for both builders and homeowners. The Web-based application allows users to explore and compare a variety of green building options starting very early in the design process. Designed by BuildingGreen (publisher of BuildingGreen.com) for the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), the tool is intended to make the certification process easier for all team members regardless of their prior experience with LEED for Homes or other LEED rating systems.

After signing up and starting a project, users can choose one of two options: a “quick score” or a credit-by-credit analysis. The quick-score tool asks approximately 20 non-technical questions, alerting the user along the way if a design choice might disqualify a project from LEED for Homes certification, and produces a rough estimate of the project’s likely certification level along with a jargon-free list of actions the user would have to take to earn the predicted LEED certification. The quick score might give less experienced users a sense of green design options, and could also help a design team decide on a realistic certification target very early in the process.

The more concrete credit-by-credit score allows users to choose which credits they expect to receive for the project, resulting in a more detailed prediction of certification level. This feature, according to USGBC, can help designers manage multiple projects or try out different scenarios regarding the same project. “The credit-by-credit path encompasses the entire LEED for Homes program, showing you that you may be closer to achieving LEED certification than you think,” said Nate Kredich, USGBC’s vice president of market development. The tool is available at www.leedforhomes.org.

The tool does not accept LEED documentation or provide a final score for certification. While LEED Online fills those functions for nonresidential LEED rating systems, LEED for Homes is documented through a provider network that includes field inspections.

– Paula Melton

For more information

U.S. Green Building Council
www.leedforhomes.org

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Central Park Apartments at Stapleton (18,000 sq. feet) (1,700 sq. meters) Multi-unit residential, Special needs housing Gish Family Apartments (75,000 sq. feet) (7,000 sq. meters) Special needs housing, Multi-unit residential, Retail Kingsbury Place Apartments (41,000 sq. feet) (3,800 sq. meters) Special needs housing, Multi-unit residential Special No. 9 House (1,500 sq. feet) (140 sq. meters) Single-family residential, Community Z6 House (2,500 sq. feet) (230 sq. meters) Single-family residential

Central Park Apartments at Stapleton Central Park Apartments at Stapleton is an affordable-housing development in Denver. The project's two buildings include five three-bedroom, three-bath apartments and 13 two-bedroom, one-bath apartments. Of these 18 units, five serve tenants at 30% of the area median income (AMI), four serve tenants at 40% of the AMI; and nine serve tenants at 50% of the AMI. The units range in size from 850 ft2 to 1,300 ft2. The project is part of the 47,000-acre New Urbanist redevelopment of the old Denver Stapleton Airport. Stapleton was designed to be environmentally responsible, with extensive greenspace, walkability, and Energy Star certification for all homes.

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IMAGE CREDITS:
1. U.S. Green Building Council
2. Screen shot from USGBC LEED for Homes Tool

DISCUSSIONS There are no comments for this page yet. Log in to add comments RELATED ARTICLES Homes Get Their Own LEED EBN: What's Happening - December 2007 More related articles RELATED CASE STUDIES Central Park Apartments at Stapleton Denver, CO More related case studies RELATED LEED CREDITS Innovation in Design ID Credit 1 RELATED GREEN DESIGN LEED Rating Systems

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