USGBC Says No Such Thing as 'LEED Decertification'

"USGBC Says No Such Thing as 'LEED Decertification'"
Multifamily Executive (02/10) Azoff, Rachel Z.

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) claims a recent article in the San Francisco Business Journal that says LEED 2009 gives USGBC the power to "decertify" existing LEED-certified structures is inaccurate. Scot Horst, senior vice president for LEED, says certifications can be lost only if developers lied about meeting the system's prerequisites. Requirement No. 6 of the Minimum Program Requirements (MPRs) says "all certified projects must commit to sharing with USGBC and/or GBCI [Green Building Certification Institute] all available actual whole-project energy and water usage data for a period of at least five years," but the information is used for research purposes -- not to identify buildings with lackluster performance. According to USGBC communications manager Ashley Katz, "MPR6 specifically is an exercise to improve the future iterations of LEED rather than to strip the certification from prior program participants and all information remains confidential. . . . LEED certification does not evaluate the ongoing operation or maintenance of a building."
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