Thornton Tomasetti provides engineering design, investigation and analysis services to clients worldwide on projects of every size and level of complexity. Founded in 1956, today Thornton Tomasetti is a 700-person organization of engineers, architects and other professionals collaborating from offices across the world. Thanks to Amy Seif Hattan and Rachel Michelin for participating in this Q...

We’re working to make LEED easier to use, and over the next few months, you’ll notice several improvements to LEED Interpretations and rating system and reference guide addenda. The first step: we’re unveiling a new platform. Welcome to our simplified, searchable database housing all the LEED Interpretations and addenda you need for your project in one central location. Looking for LEED Interpretations for a specific rating system? Add search options to further filter your search results....

Thirteen years ago, on March 30, 2000, LEED went from being an idea to a fully functioning rating system. Who could have known that this idea would turn into a global green building movement, with more than 1.5 million square feet of LEED space certifying every day? Who would have imagined that the program would grow to include over 184,000 LEED credentialed professionals and over 51,000 projects participating in LEED, making up 9.7 billion square feet of construction space? And we’re just...

Historic preservation is a green building strategy. A new guidance manual, LEED for Neighborhood Development and Historic Preservation, outlines strategies (and reasoning) geared towards helping project teams incorporate historic resources into their developments. This new recourse connects reuse and rehabilitation of historic resources with energy, water, waste, and infrastructure efficiency. It identifies the ways, some explicit and some nuanced, that the LEED for Neighborhood Development (...

New report from LEEDuser compiles key addenda, Interpretations, and FAQs in one easy reference. Keeping up with LEED isn’t always easy. Since LEED 2009 was launched, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) has issued a variety of addenda, LEED Interpretations, and guidance documents that offer important clarifications or new compliance paths for key credits. The collective knowledge of the LEED community on how LEED reviewers are applying some of the more nuanced LEED requirements has also...

USGBC has just announced that it is establishing a group of 11 to 15 volunteers to serve as a working group that will determine how to best implement Option 3 of the Material Ingredients credit proposed for LEED v4. The call for self-nominations of applicants posted April 1 to the volunteer opportunities page on the USGBC website, and USGBC will accept applications through May 1. To be eligible, applicants must be an employee of an organization that is a member of USGBC. Option 3, the new “...

Get your LEED and green building education with USGBC's Webinar Subscription — online, on demand and direct from the makers of LEED. Access USGBC webinars to complete your LEED credential maintenance requirements. Plus, your CE hours will be reported to GBCI and AIA on your behalf. Purchase USGBC's 2013 Webinar Subscription

We are in the midst of a really exciting time for LEED and USGBC. LEED v4 will be balloted in June of this year and in the time we have leading up to that point, USGBC is taking every moment to make sure the system is fully usable and the program has been thoroughly tested. The last step in the development process is one final public comment period, open March 1 – March 31, 2013. This period will focus on refinement (both in the credit language and in calculations) and provides the public...

This article was originally posted on edc magazine online on April 5, 2013. The LEED rating system has introduced highly efficient toilets, urinals and entire irrigation systems to thousands of buildings—measures that will continue to be a focus of the next version of LEED. Mission accomplished? Not quite. LEED v4 expands those water-savings targets to appliances, cooling towers, commercial kitchen equipment and other areas that consume a huge proportion of water in many buildings. Saving Water...

The LEED v4 Ballot is right around the corner. Want to vote? Register between April 1-30. Who can register to vote? All employees of USGBC national member organizations with membership in good standing since March 1, 2013. Membership should remain in good standing through the ballot period this summer. Be sure to register first. After registering, you'll have access to the LEED v4 webcast series on LEED v4, which begins on April 10. Webcast topics include: LEED v4 Introduction LEED v4...

Located only two blocks from the White House, the Westory is an historic building in downtown DC set apart from the city landscape by its Beaux Arts architecture. In 1989, the building was renovated into the 12-story, 273,111-square-foot commercial office building that we know today. The multi-tenant office building is home to many tenants, including several law and public relation firms. Read the full story What were the top overarching goals and objectives? Nicole Snarski Project Manager,...

Editor's note: Browse the February issue of EDC, the official magazine for the LEED Professional - and preview the piece "LEED: More Than a Decade of High-Performing Buildings" by Brendan Owens below. Sign up today to get your free digital edition of EDC. A three-ring binder dated April 1999 and filled with about 200 photocopied pages was the reference guide for LEED v1.0—the pilot version of LEED sent to USGBC members from its headquarters, which was then located in San Francisco. Comments...