LEED is short for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design and is a globally recognized rating system devised by the United States Green Building Council (USGBC) to evaluate the environmental performance of a building and encourage market transformation towards sustainable design. The system is credit-based, allowing projects to earn points for environmentally friendly actions taken during construction and use of a building. LEED was launched in an effort to develop a “consensus-based, market-driven rating system to accelerate the development and implementation of green building practices.” It is the leading green building program throughout the United States and globally. UC Policy requires that all new buildings and major renovations be built to LEED Silver level certification.
The UCSC Carbon Fund provided a grant to the the campus to support the purchase of a Gold Membership through July 2019. This provides unlimited access to the LEED Online platform for all staff, faculty and students (a $1,500 value per person)! The platform offers 200+ LEED Green Associate (GA) + Accredited Professional (AP) prep courses - which are certifications students can obtain to demonstrate knowledge of green building principles and understanding of the LEED rating systems and is a great professional development opportunity for students; study guides & other support materials; access to over 2000+ on-demand web-based courses on topics ranging from how to become LEED accredited, to what’s new in LEED Version 4.0, to a student-led course on implementing a LEED project on your campus, to certifying a project through the new Wellness Certification program that promotes healthy building interiors. These courses all count towards continuing education credits, access to all LEED web based reference guide access and an online credit tutorial. Essentially, all staff, faculty and students have all resources needed to support the pursuit of either a LEED GA or LEED AP (or both) accreditation through this online portal. Having at least a LEED GA accreditation is viewed as a minimum qualification for most jobs within the green building industry.
So how does one get access to this great resource? Visit the link here for more information and access!
Questions? Email education@usgbc.org.
