LEED
U.S. Green Building Council
U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) is a national non-profit organization headquartered in Washington DC. USGBC is built on its members that were around 11,500 strong as of 2008. USGBC’s members are organizations (businesses, government agencies, non-profit organizations, etc.) rather than individuals. USGBC has numerous chapters at the regional and state levels. Individuals who want to get involved in USGBC usually do so through their local chapter at a modest fee. An interactive map with all USGBC chapters can be found at www.usgbc.org.
USGBC’s main activity is to develop and administer the Leadership in Energy and Environemental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System. LEED was created in the late 1990s by pioneers in the green building movement to create a common standard for defining and assessing environmentally-responsible, whole-building, high-performance design and building practices. It was also intended to stimulate green competition among the tens of thousands of companies that supply the building industry. In LEED circles, this competition and the environmental improvements it drives is called market transformation.
Growth of the LEED Market 
In recent years,
LEED has experienced dramatic growth. It is now a factor in nearly
all sectors of the building industry. As of late 2007, there were
projects representing over 850 million sq. ft. that registered to
seek LEED certification. There were 75 regional chapters and over
30,000 LEED “Accredited Professionals” or experts in LEED who have
passed a difficult test to demonstrate their proficiency, as well
as about 30 additional people a day becoming LEED AP’s. More than
22,000 people attended Green Build 2007, the annual conference for
USGBC and LEED. Hundreds of federal agencies, state and municipal
governments, educational institutions, and major corporations are
embracing LEED.
With the launch of LEED for Homes in the summer of 2007, LEED has
moved into the residential market. In addition to LEED for Homes,
there are numerous state and local residential green building programs.
California’s Build It Green program is just one example.
LEED or "Leeds"?
A common mistake
many people make when talking about the LEED rating system is to
say "Leeds" rather than "LEED". This is a pet
peeve among green building professionals. There is no quicker or
surer way to damage your credibility in the LEED marketplace than
to say "Leeds". So remember: LEED is a green building
rating system. Leeds is a city in central England.
LEED Certifies Buildings, not Products
A common mistake made by product manufacturers and others is to say that their product is “LEED certified.” There is no such thing as a LEED-certified product because LEED only certifies buildings. It is more accurate to say that a product is LEED compliant, meets LEED credit requirements, or contributes towards earning one or more LEED points.
Earning
LEED Points
LEED is based on a system of credits and points. You have to earn a certain number of points to achieve LEED certification for a building. More points can mean a higher “ranking” in the LEED System (from lowest to highest, the levels are Certified, Silver, Gold, and Platinum). Some LEED points are earned by using LEED-compliant products such as those that contain recycled content, no added formaldehyde, and FSC certified wood. Using any single LEED-compliant product usually will not be enough to earn a point, but it will contribute. A project may have to use many, many products of a given type in order to earn a point.
Wood and Bamboo Flooring Credits
| Credit | Applicable Materials |
| Materials and Resources 4.1 and 4.2 - Recycled Content | Reclaimed wood or recycled-content underlayments |
| Materials and Resources 5.1 and 5.2 - Regional Materials | Flooring or accessories extracted, processed and manufactured within 500 miles of project |
| Materials and Resources 6 - Rapidly Renewable Materials | Bamboo flooring (Engineered Bamboo does not count due to its wood content) |
| Materials and Resources 7 - Certified Wood | FSC-certified wood flooring |
| Indoor Environmental Quality 4.1 - Low-emitting Materials - Adhesives and Sealants | Installation adhesives with no more than 100g/L VOC content |
| Indoor Environmental Quality 4.2 - Low-emitting Materials - Adhesives and Sealants | Floor finishes with no more than 100g/L VOC content |
| Indoor Environmental Quality 4.4 - Low-emitting Materials - Composite Wood and Agrifiber Products | Engineered wood and bamboo flooring that contains no added urea-formaldehyde resins |
FSC and
LEED
Only FSC-certified wood products comply with the requirements of the LEED Certified Wood credit (Materials and Resources 7). Wood products certified under competiting forest certification systems such as SFI, CSA and PEFC are not currently recognized by LEED.
LEED for
Homes
The above table of credits is for LEED rating systems that apply to commercial construction. LEED for Homes, the rating system for residential construction, has a different system of points and requirements. For instance, LEED for Homes requires that all tropical wood used in a project must be FSC certified. As in LEED for commercial construction, forest certification systems other than FSC are not currently recognized by LEED for Homes.