Representation of Health in LEED 2009

Last year, we shared a preview of ongoing research funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) on the representation of health and well-being within LEED 2009.  As previously described, a ‘Green Health’ partnership was launched in 2012 between the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), RWJF and the University of Virginia School of Medicine focused on leveraging the market transformation capacity of green building to accelerate innovation and translation of built environment and health research within the real estate industry.

One goal of this on-going collaboration is to increase use and availability of health-focused credits within green building certification systems, such as USGBC’s widely used Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) platform. Towards this end, a study submitted to the American Institute of Architects (AIA) Design and Health Summit aims to a) identify and inventory health-focused credits across LEED 2009 rating systems and b) analyze the existing ‘representation’ of health within LEED by examining the language used to describe health-related issues.