[OKC] LEED Building Standards Fail to Protect Human Health

[Shauna Lawyer Struby]

>From Yale's Environment 360:


LEED Building Standards Fail to Protect Human Health


LEED certification has emerged as the green standard of approval for new buildings in the United
States. But the criteria used for determining the ratings largely ignore factors relating to human
health, particularly the use of potentially toxic building materials.


by John Wargo

The LEED program - Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design - is playing an increasingly
important role in the drive to make buildings in the United States greener and more energy
efficient. LEED is now the most prominent and widely adopted green building certification program in
the country, with architects and developers striving to earn LEED's coveted platinum or gold rating,
and an increasing number of local, state, and federal regulations beginning to incorporate LEED
standards into official building codes.

But LEED - sponsored by the U.S. Green Building Council <http://www.usgbc.org/> , an industry group
- has a glaring and little-known drawback: It places scant emphasis on factors relating to human
health, even as the largely unregulated use of potentially toxic building materials continues to
expand. One of LEED's major accomplishments - saving energy by making buildings more airtight - has
had the paradoxical effect of more effectively trapping the gases emitted by the unprecedented
number of chemicals used in today's building materials and furnishings. Yet, as the threat from
indoor air pollution grows, LEED puts almost no weight on human health factors in deciding whether a
building meets its environmental and social goals.

 

More here ::: http://e360.yale.edu/content/feature.msp?id=2306 

 

 

 

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