Physical place is not just about a building, it's about that building's environment, the natural environment that surrounds it, and the resources that flow through it. Green building is not just about creating high performing buildings, it's also about establishing a methodology for enabling today's most sustainable practices to become tomorrow's standards.

Following this track of thinking, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) has made a habit of updating the standards and requirements of LEED^® approximately every three years in order to keep the credits in line with the tightening code. LEED version 4, which was adopted in 2013, has made significant changes to the 2009 checklists we've all grown to know and love. But this is a good thing! If the USGBC is tightening the belt it can only mean we are transitioning into a more conscious and sustainable society.

The grace period for registering for v2009 ends on October 31, 2016. After that date, new projects must register with LEED v4. Projects registered in v2009 before October 31 will have until June 30, 2021, to submit credits for LEED certification in v2009. In an effort to ease the transition into the new standards, here are some of the fundamental changes that LEED v4 is introducing.

The First, New Credit

The very first credit in the LEED v4 checklist happens to be a brand new category: the integrative process. The intent of this credit is to bring the entire project team together, including designers, engineers, and owners, to perform effective early analysis of the relationships between the building's programmed systems and then carry that analysis all the way to completion.

The integrative process has three phases:

1. Discovery
2. Design and construction
3. Occupancy

Discovery

The discovery phase is essentially an expansion upon predesign in a manner that incorporates performing early analysis of proposed systems, site, and massing. For example, one requirement of this phase is to expand the project predesign efforts to include doing preliminary “simple box” energy modeling. Another is to assess at least two potential strategies associated with: site conditions, massing and orientation, basic envelope attributes, lighting levels, thermal comfort ranges, plug and process loads, and programmatic and operations parameters. The discovery phase also requires that a preliminary water budget analysis be performed before the end of the project's schematic design phase. This analysis is to estimate the project's potential water demand volumes.

Design and Construction

The design and construction phase occurs during the typical project schematic design phase. Having a schematic design that includes the integrative process, however, is building upon all of that information that was gathered during discovery. As the project gets underway, many times the team will need to find innovative solutions to stay committed to the system synergies that were found during the discovery phase.

Occupancy

Finally, the occupancy phase is geared toward measuring the actual performance of the systems that were designed in the previous two phases. It's an insurance mechanism for achieving the goals that were established at the very beginning of the project. The feedback that is determined during the occupancy phase is critical in determining if performance targets have been reached, informing building operations, and taking any necessary corrective actions.

The integrative process is the launch pad for LEED v4. Using this holistic approach from the very beginning allows teams to apply the remainder of the checklist more effectively. By using the integrative process, design teams will be able to see just how interrelated the LEED credits really are. The intent of this credit is to begin to question default assumptions when it comes to design, and it's precisely this type of innovative thought that inspires productive, sustainable changes.