Informing LEED's next generation with The Natural Step

Abstract

Building assessment systems, such as the US Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) suite of standards, have been helpful in the initiation of a movement that is addressing the environmental impact of buildings. The approach utilized in these standards is in need of updating in order to address a number of potentially serious shortcomings. Among these are the lack of a quantifiable relationship between ‘points’ and environmental impacts, a ‘one-size-fits-all’ design for assessment, and an absence of consistent science underpinning LEED points. To address the last of these shortcomings, the potential use of The Natural Step (TNS) could form the foundation for the next generation of building assessment tools, sometimes referred to as LEED Version 3. LEED is used as an example of the potential application of TNS to remedy some of the major shortcomings of building assessment systems. The same approach would apply to voluntary, market-based building assessment systems used in other countries, e.g. the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM), the Comprehensive Assessment System for Building Environmental Efficiency (CASBEE), and Green Star, to name but a few.