News Analysis

USGBC Seeks to Make LEED More Wood Friendly

The U.S. Green Building Council is promoting a plan to expand LEED's recognition of wood while refining its handling of non-wood biobased materials.

A new initiative from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) board of directors hopes to bring resolution to the prickly subject of wood in the LEED® Rating System. The timber industry has used its leverage to slow the adoption of LEED by state governments and federal agencies and has sponsored the introduction of a competing rating system, Green Globes™, to undermine LEED’s reach (see EBN Vol. 14, No. 3). “Wood has been a contentious topic for a number of years now,” board chair Kevin Hydes told EBN. “The board took a galvanizing approach to wanting to continue to demonstrate leadership and face these difficult issues head on,” he says.

Published June 7, 2006

Malin, N. (2006, June 7). USGBC Seeks to Make LEED More Wood Friendly. Retrieved from https://www.buildinggreen.com/news-analysis/usgbc-seeks-make-leed-more-wood-friendly