Non-U.S. Regional Priority Credits Added to LEED

The question of whether non-U.S. projects have access to the LEED's Regional Priority "bonus points" has often been a subject of conversation on LEEDuser's RPc1 forum. Until now, they haven't. We're happy to help USGBC spread the following news.

LEED projects outside of the United States, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Guam are now eligible to earn bonus points via a new set of recently implemented Regional Priority credits (RPCs) within LEED Online. These credits are an interim solution as USGBC works towards a long-term strategy for identifying the myriad of regional environmental priorities across the globe. The long-term strategy includes convening a LEED International Roundtable with representatives from many countries.

The LEED credits below were selected by USGBC in order to provide incentives for achieving credits that address the broad priorities of energy efficiency and water conservation. These priority credits will be automatically applied, via LEED Online, to all currently registered and future LEED 2009 projects outside of the aforementioned areas.

The credits will operate in precisely the same manner as the RPCs that were available when LEED 2009 launched.  When a project earns a point in an RPC, it will receive an additional bonus point towards the project’s total points.  No more than one bonus point may be earned through the achievement of a single RPC, and a project can earn a maximum of four bonus points from earning the various RPCs.  For credits below with multiple thresholds, a project needs to achieve the entry-level threshold in order to earn the associated bonus point.  In addition, for credits with multiple options, all options are eligible to earn a bonus point.

Regional Priority Credits for Non-U.S. Projects

LEED-NC, LEED for Schools, LEED-CS and LEED for Retail—NC

• WEc1: Water-Efficient Landscaping
• WEc2: Innovative Wastewater Technologies
• WEc3: Water Use Reduction
• EAc1: Optimize Energy Performance
• EAc3: Enhanced Commissioning
• EAc5: Measurement and Verification (for LEED-CS, EAc5.2: Measurement and Verification—Tenant Submetering)

LEED-CI and LEED for Retail—CI

• WEc1: Water Use Reduction
• EAc1.1: Optimize Energy Performance—Lighting Power
• EAc1.2: Optimize Energy Performance—Lighting Controls
• EAc1.3: Optimize Energy Performance—HVAC
• EAc2: Enhanced Commissioning
• EAc3: Measurement and Verification

LEED-EBOM

• WEc1: Water Performance Measurement
• WEc2: Additional Indoor Plumbing Fixture and Fitting Efficiency
• WEc3: Water Efficient Landscaping
• EAc1: Optimize Energy Performance
• EAc3.1: Performance Measurement—Building Automation System
• EAc3.2: Performance Measurement—System-Level Metering

Source (LEEDuser.com)