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LEED-Certified Residences Hit 20,000 Mark, USGBC Says

Wednesday, June 13, 2012

More items for Building Envelope

More than 20,000 LEED-certified homes are now scattered across the U.S. and are as varied as the housing market itself—from affordable housing to market-rate, multi- to single-family units—the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) said in announcing the milestone.

Photo courtesy of Owens-Ames-Kimball Company

Coconut Cove project in Cape Coral, Fla.

The USGBC announced it surpassed the 20,000 mark with its LEED for Homes program, a voluntary certification system reported to provide guidance and verification for homes to be designed and built as energy- and resource-efficient structures.

“There are green homes, and then there are LEED homes. This milestone is evidence that the residential market is increasingly recognizing this fact,” said Nate Kredich, vice president of residential market development, USGBC. “LEED for Homes is moving the residential market further and faster towards high-performing, healthy homes that save residents money.”

This video posted on USGBC’s LEED for Homes site provides a look at some of the reported benefits of constructing a LEED-certified home.

Since the official program launch in 2008, more than 20,000 residential units have earned certification, with nearly 79,000 additional units in the pipeline. More than half of all LEED-certified homes are in the “affordable housing category,” the organization said.

Recently certified projects include the following.

• Eight LEED Platinum-certified affordable homes in the Coconut Cove development in Cape Coral, Fla., developed by Southwest Florida Affordable Housing Choice Foundation Inc. and built by Owen-Ames-Kimball Company.

• AMLI at Escena, the first two LEED Gold low-rise multifamily buildings in Texas, built by AMLI Residential.

• KAPSARC Villa B-19 in Riyadh, one of the first LEED for Homes International Pilot projects to certify. Located in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, the LEED Silver home is one of 191 single-family production homes built by SK Engineering and Construction as part of Phase I for KAPSARC.

According to a 2012 McGraw Hill Construction study, “green homes” are expected to grow to between 29% to 38% of the residential construction market by 2016, equating to $87-$114 billion, USGBC said.

More information: www.usgbc.org/LEED/Homes.

Comment from John Fauth, (6/14/2012, 11:55 AM)

I think it would be interesting to know how many of these homes have received public funding or subsidies.