The U.S. Green Building Council's LEED building rating system has helped grow the ranks of green buildings, but some say it ignores the human health impact of those buildings.
This op-ed from Yale Environment 360 argues that the LEED rating system needs to do more to monitor potentially hazardous or toxic substances used in the energy efficient and otherwise green materials used to build the buildings it certifies as "environmentally friendly".
"LEED - sponsored by the U.S. Green Building Council, an industry group - has a glaring and little-known drawback: It places scant emphasis on factors relating to human health, even as the largely unregulated use of potentially toxic building materials continues to expand. One of LEED's major accomplishments - saving energy by making buildings more airtight - has had the paradoxical effect of more effectively trapping the gases emitted by the unprecedented number of chemicals used in today's building materials and furnishings. Yet, as the threat from indoor air pollution grows, LEED puts almost no weight on human health factors in deciding whether a building meets its environmental and social goals."
Read the full story: LEED Building Standards Fail to Protect Human Health
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The need to slash emissions from buildings is increasingly urgent, and critics say LEED won't get us there.
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The latest dust up over green building rating systems, especially their efficacy relative to each other, highlights the danger of mixing the ideals of environmentalism with the self-interest of running an environmentalist organization.
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City of Rosemead
Rutgers University, Edward J. Bloustein School of Planning and Public Policy
One Hundred Miles
University of Michigan School for Environment and Sustainability (SEAS)
Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY)
The Architects Foundation
City of Cambridge
Montrose County
The Pocatello Development Authority