LEED v4 Requirement Extended to Oct 31, 2016

LEED users will be able to regster projects under the existing LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) 2009 ratings system until October 31, 2016, an extension from the original planned date of June 15, 2015.  

There are some vocal complaints that this means LEED 2009 will now be 7 years old when officially retired and therefore not so cutting edge, but it appears also that a significant percentage of the green building market simply did not feel able to comply with LEED v4's requirements on time.  In particualr, there is concern that international companies need more time to be able to meet the new requirements.  But in a survey conducted at Greenbuild 2014, over 61% of respondents reported that they were "not ready" or "unsure" about moving to the new system.  

The United States Green Building Council, (USGBC) has clearly played a significant and incalculable role in transforming the green building movement and industry and deserves significant praise in many respects, but it does seem like there ought to be a way to reconcile the differing abilities of companies in different countries and grographical locations to push the leading edge. It would seem a global standard could account for different levels of readiness - otherwise, there is a natural tendency to teach to the lowest achieving student?  Given the current exponential expansion of green building to over $250 billion annually (Lux research, 2014), and the clear climate change and environmental imperatives, it would just seem that we as a movement and community have to push our hardest and try our best to do better.   Perhaps this just means that more companies need to commit to LEED v4 sooner, even though they don't have to.

For more information and to view the LEED v4 press release: http://www.usgbc.org/articles/usgbc-announces-extension-leed-2009