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D.4 USGBC LEED™
Fort Carson is currently using a sustainable rating tool established by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), titled Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED™).
LEED™ is a nationally recognized, voluntary rating system that has been endorsed by the Air Force. LEED™ defines a threshold for green buildings and introduces a tool to promote a whole building approach that encourages and guides a collaborative, integrated design and construction process. LEED™ is performance based, compatible with standard design processes, self-evaluating, self-documenting, but not self-certifying. Certification is done solely by USGBC. The five primary LEED™ categories include: Sustainable Sites, Water Efficiency, Energy and Atmosphere, Materials and Resources, Indoor Environmental Quality. Within each of these credit areas a project can earn a certain amount of points. Projects can earn additional points under an Innovation in Design category, through demonstrating exceptional performance above LEED™ requirements. The number of points the project earns determines the level of LEED™ Certification the project receives.
The four LEED™ rating levels include (points given for the LEED™ New Construction (NC)): Certified (26-32 points), Silver (33-38 points), Gold (39-51 points), and Platinum (52-69 points). The Army will be required to build all their new construction projects starting in 2008 to the LEED™ Silver standard. The LEED™ checklist is in Appendix E.
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