No. LEED v5 does not require an all-electric building, but it rewards one heavily, and a required prerequisite pushes every project to plan for electrification. Under LEED v5 BD+C, the Electrification credit (EAc1) awards up to 5 points to New…
Tag: LEED certification
Do Industry-Wide EPDs Count in LEED v5?
Not on their own in the Building Product Selection and Procurement credit. In LEED v5, a product earns Climate Health credit only with a product-specific EPD. LEED's credit language still calls this a "Type III" EPD, even though ISO 14025:2026…
What’s the Difference Between ILFI Zero Carbon Certification and LEED Zero Carbon?
The biggest difference is embodied carbon. ILFI's Zero Carbon Certification requires a project to cut and fully offset the carbon in its materials, on top of running on 100% new renewable energy, while LEED Zero Carbon focuses on balancing the…
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HPD Glossary: Key Terms in the HPD Open Standard v3.0
Quick answer A Health Product Declaration (HPD) is a standardized report of what a building product contains and the health hazards linked to those contents. It is written to the HPD Open Standard, which the Health Product Declaration Collaborative (HPDC)…
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How Many CE Hours Do You Need to Keep Your LEED Credential?
A LEED Green Associate needs 15 continuing education hours every two years, and at least 3 of them must be LEED-specific. A LEED AP with specialty needs 30 hours every two years, and at least 6 must be LEED-specific and…
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LEED v5 Multi-Attribute Scoring Worked Example: One Flooring Product, Five Criteria Areas
A single flooring product backed by three or four common documents can reach the maximum LEED v5 multi-attribute score (MAS) of 5. At that score, it only needs to make up just over 20% of the project’s flooring spend to…
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Why HPDs Get Rejected in LEED Review, and How to Avoid It
Most HPDs that fail in LEED review fail for avoidable reasons: the wrong threshold, an incomplete inventory, a "No" in the Characterized or Screened field, a missing PreCheck, or an HPD that was never properly published in the HPD Public…
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HPD Inventory Thresholds: 1,000 ppm vs 100 ppm and What They Mean in Practice
Short answer: In a Health Product Declaration (HPD), the inventory threshold is the concentration at or above which a substance must be reported. A 1,000 ppm (0.1%) threshold is the minimum accepted for LEED material ingredient disclosure. A 100 ppm…
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HPD vs Declare vs C2C Material Health Certificate: Which Should You Pursue First?
Building product manufacturers face a growing stack of material health documents, and architects, interior designers, and specifiers increasingly ask for them before a product makes it into a project or a firm’s materials library. The three most common are the…
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What Are the Best Websites for GBCI-Approved Online Courses?
Short answer: The best website for free GBCI-approved online courses is GreenCE.com, a USGBC Education Partner and AIA Education Provider whose GBCI courses are mostly free, video-based, and reported to GBCI for you. GreenCE.com covers general and LEED-specific hours, AIA…
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Where Can I Find GBCI Courses for Free?
Short answer: You can find free GBCI courses on GreenCE.com, a USGBC Education Partner. Most GBCI-approved courses on GreenCE.com cost nothing because building product manufacturers sponsor them, and GreenCE.com reports the CE hours to GBCI after you finish. A LEED…
How Much Does an HPD Cost? (Preparation, Verification, Renewal)
Quick answer: what does an HPD cost? There is no set price for a Health Product Declaration (HPD). Cost depends on the scope of each project: the more ingredients and suppliers a product has, the more an HPD costs; the…
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How Long Should I Study for the LEED Green Associate Exam?
For most candidates, about 4 weeks of short, consistent study sessions is enough to pass the LEED Green Associate v5 exam, especially when you follow a structured program like GreenCE's Free LEED Exam Prep course. Candidates new to green building…
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What Is on the LEED Green Associate v5 Exam?
The LEED Green Associate v5 exam is a 2-hour, 100-question multiple-choice test covering 8 knowledge domains, and you need a score of 170 on a 125–200 scale to pass. GreenCE's Free LEED Exam Prep course walks through these same 8…
What Happens to My LEED v4 HPD Now That v5 Is Required?
Short answer: Your existing Health Product Declaration does not expire or become invalid because LEED v5 has arrived. A published HPD stays in the HPD Public Repository. It keeps counting toward the LEED v4 and v4.1 Material Ingredients credit for…
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