LEED or Green, what is the difference?

How is LEED Different From a Green Home?

A green home may have low-flush toilets or solar panels on the roof , thereby making it, Green, while a LEED home is all-encompassing. A LEED home is one that is green from top to bottom and inside and out.

Rather than focusing on one aspect such as heating and cooling, a LEED home is exemplary in energy efficiency, water use, air quality, building materials, land placement and use—essentially everything!  LEED certification is also rigorously tested and hard to achieve, unlike some other green certification programs.

In fact, every LEED home is throughly inspected and tested to ensure it meets the tough standards. Essentially, reaching a LEED status brings your home to the pinnacle of green certification—it’s the best there is.

Below is LEED for Homes Rating Systems eight categories.  All of these categories are what goes into measuring the overall performance of a home.

  1. Innovation & Design Process (ID).
    • Innovation in design or innovation in operations credits address sustainable building expertise as well as design measures not covered under the five LEED credit categories. Six bonus points are available in this category
  2. Location & Linkages(LL).
    • Regional priority credits address regional environmental priorities for buildings in different geographic regions. Four bonus points are available in this category.
  3. Sustainable Sites(SS).
    • Sustainable sites credits encourage strategies that minimize the impact on ecosystems and water resources.
  4. Water Efficiency(WE)
    • Water efficiency credits promote smarter use of water, inside and out, to reduce potable water consumption.
  5. Energy & Atmosphere(EA)
    • Energy & atmosphere credits promote better building energy performance through innovative strategies
  6. Materials & Resources (MR)
    • Materials & resources credits encourage using sustainable building materials and reducing waste.
  7. Indoor Environmental Quality (EQ)
    • Indoor environmental quality credits promote better indoor air quality and access to daylight and views.
  8. Awareness & Education (AE)
    • Raising awareness of LEED certified homes and LEED education is also an important aspect.  This helps people better understand what you do while building that creates such a great product.