Major changes announced for LEED AP credential program

Nathan, from everything I've seen, existing legacy LEED APs will not have to meet the LEED project experience requirement that future LEED APs will be required to meet. Also, it seems project experience is only required for Obtaining the LEED AP in the future, not for Maintaining the credential.

For those interested in learning more, I've built a free online education class that summarizes and explains the credential changes, which is available at no cost at http://www.ecoachievers.com

I am a LEED AP and have read through the various pages of the GBCI website explaining this transition. I noticed that, in the new "tiered" version of credentials, a LEED AP+ must have experience on at least one LEED project. Will this be a requirement of current LEED APs (future Legacy LEED APs) as well? I haven't yet had the opportunity to work on a LEED project and am concerned that I may lose my LEED AP status.

I would hope that current AIA LU courses will mesh with LEED LU requirements. Having to fulfill a potential of 18 AIA LU's/year and 15 LEED LU's/year is not something to look forward to.

Regards to a legacy LEED ap, I found a good post as below. See the post named by David with a date on August 3 2009. (have to scroll down a bit)
http://www.greenexamacademy.com/what-exactly-is-the-credential-maintenan...
According to the post, it you are a legacy LEED ap, you can still maintain your credential as a legacy LEED ap whether you get a free opt-in now (then sign on CMP and take a specialty exam) or after 2 years you choose to opt-in, or choose to opt-out.

I checked the CMP program offered through GBCI web site.
http://www.gbci.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CMSPageID=200
I am not very happy about the courses approved by Education Reviewing Bodies and its prices. The most of presentations have prices even with product presentations. That is not the case with AIA (American Institute of Architects) provided programs. Especially, most of product presentations are free to learn about because it is a good marketing ad for the company.

Regards to a legacy LEED ap, I found a good post as below. See the post named by David with a date on August 3 2009. (have to scroll down a bit)
http://www.greenexamacademy.com/what-exactly-is-the-credential-maintenan...
According to the post, it you are a legacy LEED ap, you can still maintain your credential as a legacy LEED ap whether you get a free opt-in now (then sign on CMP and take a specialty exam) or after 2 years you choose to opt-in, or choose to opt-out.

I checked the CMP program offered through GBCI web site.
http://www.gbci.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CMSPageID=200
I am not very happy about the courses approved by Education Reviewing Bodies and its prices. The most of presentations have prices even with product presentations. That is not the case with AIA (American Institute of Architects) provided programs. Especially, most of product presentations are free to learn about because it is a good marketing ad for the company.

USGBC’s intention for education requirement is good. However, in considering most professionals who are willing to work with sustainable design concept are already obliged to continuing education until retirement and those continuing education are more and more gearing toward green conscious design, and steering committee members of USGBC are one of those professionals, it should have been better if they handle this “credential maintenance program” integrated with those from other professional organizations.

As a professional, I hope the organization like USGBC encourage environmentally friendly design on the cause of right-thing-to-do and discourage the sustainable design becoming too much commercialized.

I also think that for the credential maintenance, it should not cost a fortune, nor consume too much time to an average working person. In terms of qualification for LEED exam I am wondering why someone has not worked on LEED project is not qualified for the LEED exam. Someone with this much of green enthusiasm should be more encouraged to take a test. If one can not meet the requirement at the end of two years, there should be a grace period to recover, not stripping off the credential right in the face.
I hope USGBC look into all these matters.

Greenbuild365.org video: "This session charts the path for a credentialing evolution that supports LEED 2009 and introduces some exciting new changes that will enhance this important credential its role in market transformation. We will also describe the role of GBCI in the LEED certification process."
http://www.greenbuild365.org/GreenExpoVideoDetail.aspx?GreenExpoID=32

Is there someone who can explain to me why one has to become a LEED-AP?
All final credits will be judged by the USGBC, a LEED-AP cannot influence that. Furthermore a LEED-AP only has to be able to memorize the program. Implementation is a totally different story.
I am in sustainable engineering in the Netherlands and worldwide for over 25 years now. Unfortunately many of the European achievements need changes in LEED-NC to be rewarded. ASHRAE and ANSI describe a design path that has been left in Europe in the 1980's. I would like to suggest reading the article in HPAC dd. 20/02/09 called "High efficiency radiant cooling" and compare that design with ASHRAE.
A design like that cannot even be calculated by the prescribed software.
Effectively with hybrid systems combined with geothermal practices like that energy savings up to 70% compared to baseline ASHRAE are feasible and documented.

Janwillem, I would like to read the radiant cooling article and went to the magazine to find it. I could not. Can you give me a url for the article? I would love to see how they deal with the condensation associated with radiant cooling.

Carrie, the USGBC has two courses in their curriculum that will likely cover the content needed to prepare for the Green Associate exam.

The two courses are the 100-level "Green Building Basics and LEED" and 200-level "LEED Core Concepts and Strategies". Both are available in the classroom, and the first one is presently available online. I would not be surprised if the second will be offered online as well. Together, these should provide the information needed for the LEED Green Associate credential.

More information on the courses are available on pages from the main USGBC Education page: http://www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CMSPageID=283

I am interested in knowing about the LEED Green Associate credential. I am a manufacturer's representative for products with an emphasis on Green design, The associate credential would certainly be beneficial. How do I find out about this and on-line courses needed to pass Tier I?

Daniella...

Read the Credentialing Maintenance Program (CMP) manual. It states that only FIVE of your credits can come from self-learing sources (webinars, things like you would probably be most interested in).

I also have a question into GBCI on the following contradiction. The CMP manual states that if you don't maintain your CEs in your two year period, you are stripped of your LEED AP (+Specialty) status COMPLETELY. You are no longer a LEED AP of any kind. However, the Enrollment Manual states that a LEED AP (+Specialty) that does not maintain their credits is stripped of their SPECIALTY credential only and are returned to the status of LEED AP without specialty. Then I guess you can either try again at the speciailty, or you just remain a LEED AP without specialty in perpetuity.

Of course, I have received NO answer on this.

This whole thing is a mess. I am very disappointed in how this is being handled so far.

That is my concern too. I have to maintain 18 credit hours per year for my architect license and AIA. So I am hesitating to take a new LEEDap exam considering additional 15 credit hours per year for the LEEDap.
I am wondering if any affordable programs are easily available not requiring extensive travelling.
I am not in States, so distance -learning programs should be available.
I am also wondering if anyone considers the redundancy of continuing education requirement with AIA related with sustainability.
I only hope all of issues above is resolved soon.

The LEED Associate credential actually sounds perfect for what I do, which is master planning. The focus of the AP credential on construction has kept me from taking the exam, but I am still conversant in many of the areas and it would be a real benefit to me and my clients.

Miriam, LEED for Existing Buildings (LEED-EB) has been refashioned as LEED for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance (LEED-EB: O&M). It looks like GBCI is taking a more concise approach to recognizing LEED APs with this specialty, by calling them LEED AP O+M. The specialty exam on that subject will be launched in 2009.

What happens to LEED EB for Existing Buildings?

I just took the exam this last week, and passed the new commerical construction test. Does this mean that I can only be certified to do new construction and not homes? Would I have to sit for homes too?

Anna, as I learned (see the article update), you will likely be placed into the LEED AP BD+C designation once you opt in to the new system. This simply reflects your principal area of expertise and does not limit you to NC projects. I supposed you could take the LEED AP Homes specialty exam and receive that designation as well, but that's purely optional.

It is just amazing how USGBC tries to solve a problem, and creates 5 new ones. So there are now 65,000 LEED AP's, wow. Just like there are 65,000 Santa's getting ready to march on the nations' malls, which one is for real... One of the best things GBCI could do is provide a clear(er) means to re-certify a core AP group so clients actually may have confidence their LEED AP knows what they are doing. A LEED AP Fellow is a good idea, but it is not like green building professionals need more ego-gratification if you follow me...

So the continuing education requirements for a LEED AP who opts into the credentialing system (I would become a LEED AP BD+C I guess) are on a continuous, 2-year cycle? Very similar to the same process that I am required to follow for continuing education to maintain my PE license in several states?

I guess my greatest concern is the availability and cost of ACCEPTABLE continuing educational sources. I'm already obligated to (in most cases) 15 credits per year on average to maintain my PE license...however none of these credits would likely apply to LEED CE requirements...so I would now be up to about 30 credits per year to maintain all of my registrations.

I am confused about phase out period. If I register for the old exam BEFORE March 31st, take it and fail it - can I do a re-take under old exam style before May? Or at that point am I out of luck, and then need to take new style exam and register for the new one?

Diane, you would need to confirm this with GBCI, but you would be out of luck and would have to wait a couple or a few months for the new exam. That exam will also be quite different, so your studying for the current exam would be somewhat out of date. You may want to consider, if GBCI's system allows this, registering for two sittings of the exam, so that if you fail the first, you have a backup. I think you can cancel within a certain time period and get most of your money back.

GBCI has now announced that you can skip the CE requirement if you retest the LEED AP exam every two years. That might be easier for some people to fit in.

http://www.gbci.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CMSPageID=202