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The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) is updating its Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification program. LEED 2009, which has been approved in a vote by the council's 18,000 member organizations, includes technical advancements designed to improve the energy efficiency of commercial buildings, as well as reduce their carbon emissions and address other environmental and human health issues.

Under LEED, projects submitted for evaluation by the USGBC earn points for satisfying green building criteria in six categories: sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials and resources, indoor environmental quality and design innovation. The total points a project attains determine the level of certification it receives (certified, silver, gold or platinum).

One of the biggest changes in LEED 2009 is the inclusion of regional credits, under which extra points will be rewarded to projects with for eco-friendly features that have been identified as priorities within their given environmental zones. LEED has also undergone a reweighting of credits, changing the allocation of points among LEED credits to reflect climate change and energy efficiency as urgent priorities.

Process innovation in how new technical advancements are incorporated into LEED will also be introduced alongside LEED 2009, including a pilot process for individual credits that will allow new technical developments to be trialed, evaluated and incorporated into the standards.

Detailed information about the planned technical changes to the rating system can be found on the USGBC's web site.