Analysis of the Army transition from LEED 2009 to LEED v4, with updated LEED 4.1 credits

Abstract

The objective of this effort was to identify and recommend an approach for Army green building certification that ensures Army projects meet federal and Army sustainability requirements during the transition from Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) 2009 to LEED v4. The first Army LEED v4 project was registered for certification with the Green Building Certification Institute in 2014. Since then, over 860 Army projects were registered for LEED v4 certification. As of the third quarter of FY20, when this report was written, 2 projects achieved LEED Silver certification. Other Army projects teams documented difficulty achieving the required LEED v4 Silver certification due to difficult site conditions, budget constraints, facility types, or project requirements. Commercial-sector project teams also had difficulty certifying with LEED v4, forcing the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) to recon-sider the credits and metrics project teams found challenging. The USGBC revised the troublesome credits and now offers LEED v4.1 pilot credits that can be used for any project registered with LEED v4. To assist Army project teams, this research investigates difficult-to-achieve LEED v4 cred-its and their possible replacement with LEED v4.1 pilot credits. The report concludes with guidance on implementing the updated version of the LEED rating system from v4 to v4.1.