LEED 2011 for India: Changes In New Version & Check List

The Indian Green Building Council launched updated version of LEED India, LEED 2011 for India.

Major changes in new rating system:

The credit categories of Sustainable Sites, Water Effi ciency and Energy & Atmosphere have changes significantly while Materials & Resources and Indoor Environmental Quality remained very similar

Sustainable Sites

The sustainable site section has a total of 26 points available while v1 only had 13 credits points. The prerequisite “Erosion & Sedimentation Control” in LEED V1.0 has been changed to “Construction Activity Pollution Prevention” in new version.

The Development Density & Community Connectivity credit went from one possible point to five possible points. Another big jump comes in Alternative Transportation credit; V1 have four points in this section while v3.0 allows for 12 points. New credit point “Bicycle Storage and Changing Rooms” is added in Alternative Transportation.

With new version it is possible to use low SRI roofing material if the weighted rooftop SRI average meets the criteria.

Water efficiency:

The Water Efficiency section has been upgraded. A pre requisite has been added to this section. Previously one point was available with 20 % and 2 points with 30% reduction in water use where as In version three, a minimum of 20 % water use reduction is mandatory and 30% reduction is required to score 2 points.  Projects that have 40% reduction will qualify for 3 while 50% reduction earns 4 points.

The  Water efficient landscaping  credit went possible two points to four points and Water Efficiency in Air-conditioning System(credit 2) and Innovative Wastewater Technologies (credit 3) in Version 1 are combined  in to one credit Innovative Wastewater Treatment and Reuse (credit 2)

Energy and Atmosphere

The Energy & Atmosphere section also has seen a big jump in available points – 17 in v1 to 35 in new version.  Most of this increase is through the addition of improvement levels in the energy performance category and more options for the use of renewable energy.

The big change is the mandatory energy saving requirements, with new version it is mandatory to improve in the proposed building performance by 10% for new buildings.

The Renewable Energy credit went possible 3 points to 7 points and % of the building’s total energy is reduced from minimum 2.5% for 1 point to 1% for 1 point and subsequent increment of 2% will give 1 extra point.

Materials and Resources & Indoor Environmental Quality

Materials & Resources and Indoor Environmental Quality section are very similar to the old version.  Building reuse credit went possible two points to three points and there is change in credit requirements in material reuse, recycle content & regional material credits.

Innovation in Design

There are a possible six ID points in LEED 2011, increased from five points in the previous version.

Regional Priority

Regional Priority Credits are new in LEED 2011. They offer extra credit points for project teams to address environmental issues that are identified as local/regional priorities by IGBC. A project can achieve no more than four credit points from credits identified as Regional Priority. IGBC identified following six credits as Regional Priority Credits.

• WE c1: Water Efficient Landscaping
• WE c2: Innovative Wastewater Treatment and Reuse
• WE c3: Water Use Reduction
• EA c1: Optimize Energy Performance
• EA c3: Enhanced Commissioning
• EA c5: Measurement and Verification

 Download leed 2011 checklist