Transforming Buildings, Even the Little Ones: 20,000 LEED-certified Homes

Nate Kredich
Vice President of Residential Market Development
U.S. Green Building Council

20,000: No, I’m not talking leagues under the sea. I’m talking LEED-certified homes.

That’s right: I’m particularly proud to announce that we’ve certified over 20,000 LEED for Homes units.

It’s interesting to look at a sampling of the projects we’ve certified in just the past couple of weeks to see the reach and versatility of LEED in the residential space:

• Eight LEED Platinum certified affordable homes in the Coconut Cove development in Cape Coral, Florida, developed by Southwest Florida Affordable Housing Choice Foundation, Inc. and built by Owen-Ames-Kimball Company
• AMLI at Escena, the first two LEED Gold low-rise multifamily buildings in Texas, built by AMLI Residential
• KAPSARC Villa B-19 in Riyadh, one of the first LEED for Homes International Pilot projects to certify - located in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, the LEED Silver home is one of 191 single family production homes built by SK Engineering and Construction as part of Phase I for KAPSARC

KAPSARC Villa B-19 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabi by SK Engineering & Construction

Since LEED for Homes launched as a rating system in 2008, 51% of our certified homes qualify as affordable housing, a statistic of which we are very proud.
Also of note has been the trajectory for the LEED for Homes program. Consider:

• The 1st 1,000 certified homes (pre-pilot) took 31 months – or an average of roughly 32 homes/month
• 1,001 – 5,000 took 18 months – 222/month
• 5,001 – 10,000 took 12 months – 416/month
• 10,001 – 20,000 took 13 months – 769/month

Pretty nice growth, huh?

AMLI at Escena in Texas, built by AMLI Residential

Enormous thanks goes to our incredible LEED for Homes community and its continued commitment to transforming all buildings…even the little ones, that happen to matter most of all.

Read the press release »

Campaign Advocacy Offers a Menu of Policy Options for Chapters and Legislatures

Matt Pearce
Campaign Specialist
U.S. Green Building Council

USGBC’s 2012 advocacy campaign agenda is designed to empower local advocates to advance USGBC public policy priorities in their state capitols and city halls. Each campaign was launched with a suite of supporting resources to make it easier for advocates and includes a campaign brief and draft legislative text.

Now we want to hear from you. Please click here to fill out a short survey by March 31 on which campaigns you and your chapter will be undertaking in 2012. This information is extremely valuable in helping us create follow up material and additional resources to ensure the success of your campaigns. This survey will better enable us to support your efforts.

USGBC’s 2012 Advocacy campaigns are:

• Leadership with LEED
• Highlight Green Homes
• Improve Data Access
• Mainstream Building Benchmarking
• Build Better Codes
• Value Healthy and Efficient Affordable Housing
• Establish Common Ground Around Green Schools 

Now that all of the campaigns have been introduced, we will be moving to the next phase of developing additional resources, and providing staff and strategic support for the individual campaigns. Be on the lookout for information on follow-up events and strategy sessions, and in the meantime, all of the recorded calls and accompanying resources are available at www.usgbc.org/campaigns. The site is be continually updated, so check back often. We look forward to hearing from you!

Bringing Green Building Outcomes to Affordable Homes

Matt Pearce
Campaign Specialist
U.S. Green Building Council

The benefits of green building – quality, healthy and safe environments that are cost effective – should be available to all. These outcomes are especially critical in affordable housing where studies show that income level segments that rely on affordable housing often pay more in utility and water costs then people of with higher incomes. It’s a problem that needs a solution.

To catalyze change and bring more green building outcomes into affordable housing, USGBC recently introduced the Value Quality and Efficient Affordable Housing Campaign. The campaign is aimed at spurring USGBC advocates into action to fight for green building attributes, primarily third party certified green building standards like LEED for Homes, to be included in their states affordable housing policy.

Unreasonably BOULD: A Social Enterprise for Affordable Homes and Green Building Education

Shane Gring
Co-Founder + Director of Operations
BOULD

Imagine a world where potential is not governed by what we're told to be, the only fear is not giving enough, and business-as-usual, is a little more...unreasonable.

As a USGBC Emerging Professional, Colorado Chapter member, and young social entrepreneur, this is the world I’m working to create.

After a year serving Flatirons Habitat for Humanity (Boulder, Colorado) as an AmeriCorps VISTA, I approached a fork in the road. Do I confirm my acceptance to graduate school and pursue my Masters of Architecture? Or, do I pursue a slightly less conventional path: one filled with incredible potential, but also substantial uncertainty?

Two years later, after the completion of 17 LEED-registered affordable homes, the training of 115 now-qualified LEED Professional exam candidates, and fundraising of $20,000 for affordable housing builders, you will see that I chose the latter.

In 2010, at age 23, I co-founded a social enterprise, called BOULD, with the ambitious mission to eliminate substandard housing through green building education.

BOULD staff, Brian Brunsing in action at a LEED Platinum seeking Habitat for Humanity home in Boulder, Colorado

Here’s how it works. First, we train local affordable housing builders (AHBs), like Habitat for Humanity, to transform housing projects into structured, green building classrooms for career developing professionals and students. Our program, EverbuildPRO, provides leadership opportunities at all phases of a project: from design development to LEED documentation to on-site construction. Upon program completion, participants have the project experience they need to qualify for LEED accreditation, the world’s preeminent green building credential. Then, in return for the opportunity, professionals pay a tuition fee that is shared between BOULD and the AHB, making “green” affordable and accessible for all.