Canadian LEED Update Close to Balloting

LEED Canada is being revised in concert with the U.S. 2009 revision to streamline LEED compliance for those who work on both sides of the border. The Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC) has chosen Enermodal Engineering to shepherd the revision process. According to Enermodal president Stephen Carpenter, a new version of LEED will be ready to present to CaGBC’s membership for a vote by the end of September 2008.

CaGBC had identified about 25 technical issues in need of revisiting, but most of those were addressed by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) in its revision process. A few remain, such as the question of whether to allow teams to use the Model National Energy Code for Buildings to establish a baseline for earning energy credits as an alternate compliance path to ASHRAE 90.1. Some changes in LEED Canada could make it more stringent than the U.S. standard, but under the terms of CaGBC’s license with the USGBC, it cannot be weaker.

Once CaGBC members have approved the revision, it will be sent to USGBC for review. More information can be found at www.cagbc.org/initiatives/index.php.