This course is going to focus on LEED EB (Existing Buildings – Operations & Maintenance). This course will provide you with essential knowledge about LEED, which is an objective, unbiased, 3rd party green building rating standard. The acronym LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. LEED was introduced as the standard developed by the United States Green Building Council, or USGBC, upon its founding in 1993. Since then, LEED has grown enormously, USGBC has also introduced the GBCI, or Green Building Certification Institute, which is responsible for accrediting personnel with the LEED-AP designation, for certifying buildings, at the LEED Certified, Silver, Gold, or Platinum levels, and for interpreting criteria, updating information, and generally ensuring day-to-day operations for the LEED system.
We will be discussing the LEED Rating Paths, of which there are several, the intent of which has been to create as many specifically tailored and appropriate options as are reasonable to allow for ease of guidance and certification in the building design, construction, and operations processes. We’ll review the variously available tools and resources that exist to support the efforts of project teams as they seek LEED certification, and of course we will delve significantly into our main focus, which is LEED EBOM, or Existing Buildings Operations & Maintenance.