USGBC Approves LEED 2009 Energy Update
USGBC members have voted to approve the LEED 2009 Energy Performance Update. With approval of this update, LEED 2009 will require higher minimum energy performance standards for all projects registering for LEED 2009 after April 8, 2016. If you have a project that you are thinking of registering soon, be sure to do it before this deadline!
The new LEED 2009 standards will be in effect from April 9 until October 31, 2016. After October 31, 2016, LEED v4 becomes mandatory.
Changes to Minimum Energy Performance
With the new energy update, projects that are registered after April 8, 2016 must now earn a minimum of four Energy and Atmosphere Energy Savings points under any BD+C rating, or 18% better energy performance for new buildings and 14% better performance on major renovations of existing buildings as compared with the ASHRAE 90.1-2007 baseline building. For LEED Commercial Interiors, projects must get at least four points under any of the four sub-sections of Optimize Energy Performance. Also, projects can no longer follow the prescriptive paths for EAp2 or EAc1, as these paths are no longer an eligible compliance option and do not meet the minimum points needed for registration.
Note that this change does not affect LEED registration for Existing Buildings or Neighborhood Development projects.
For an updated list of the summary of changes, see: http://www.usgbc.org/resources/leed-2009-energy-performance-update-summary-changes