USGBC Second Public Comment Period - LEED for Commercial Interiors Now Open

The USGBC is now soliciting comments on the substantive changes made to the first draft of the LEED for Commercial Interiors (LEED-CI) Rating System. In accordance with the USGBC Balloting Policies and Procedures, the second comment period will be open for 15 days from Thursday, September 2, through Thursday, September 16, 2004, 5 p.m. PST. Comments will be received at the following URL: http://www.usgbc.org/LEED/Drafts/drafts_main.aspFollowing the second round of public comments and upon review and acceptance by LEED-CI and LEED Steering Committee, the LEED-CI Rating System will go to final ballot approval by the USGBC membership. In order to ensure a manageable and orderly comment process and to encourage overall organizational (rather than individual) perspectives, we encourage organizations to develop summary rather than individual comments. A single point of contact responsible for aggregating the submission of draft comments will reduce the overall volume of comments and enable the LEED-CI Committee to make optimal use of available review time between the close of the public comment period and the start of the balloting period. USGBC members are requested to submit constructive comments with specific proposals for modifying credits to improve the practicality of the criteria and/or suggest language improvements or clarifications of the requirements. Substantive and structural changes have been made to the current LEED-CI draft based on comments from the first Public Comment period held earlier this year. Only comments based on the current LEED-CI draft will be accepted. Posted with this version is a list of those substantive and structural changes as well as a summary document which represents the responses to comments received during the first public comment period. The USGBC initiated development of the LEED-CI Rating System in 1999 and has subsequently worked with dozens of volunteer committee members and pilot participants to prepare and test this new standard. Over the past 2 years, over 100 tenant improvement projects have applied the pilot version of LEED-CI. These pilot projects represent more than twenty building types including offices, institutions, and retail organizations occupying over 7.5 million square feet worldwide. Feedback from the pilot projects, including lessons learned and more than 45 Credit Interpretation Rulings, has informed the development of the LEED-CI Rating System and been incorporated in the comment draft. In addition to the direct input from the LEED-CI Committee and pilot participants, this draft has been approved by the LEED Steering Committee. It is strongly encouraged that organizations and especially USGBC member companies take advantage of this opportunity to contribute to the evolution of the LEED Green Building Rating System.