ARTICLE ON LEED TECHNOLOGY: LEED NOT WORKING

http://www.newwest.net/magazine/article/the_leed_shade_of_green/C555/L555/

"That's also part of the problem. Even proponents of the LEED system, like Randy Hafer of High Plains Architects and green pioneer Bob Berkebile, one of the drafters of the original LEED standards, acknowledge in private that there's more than a little discontent with the LEED system and USGBC's status. With a host of small, sometimes competing sub-sectors like recycled materials and solar infrastructure, and scores of specialty architects and engineers, the green building industry is complex and diverse, and perhaps inherently resistant to a single arbiter.

Some architects and engineers complain about the money and time involved in obtaining one of the four LEED approval ratings (standard, silver, gold, and platinum), and say prescriptive standards don't always foment true innovation.

What's more, LEED now has competition: a rival rating system known as "Green Globes," promoted by the Portland-based Green Building Initiative, claims to be less expensive and less cumbersome than the LEED process. "