Can an existing home be eligible for LEED Certification?
My home was built in the early 80's and I've made several environmentally-inspired improvements since I bought it - compost, rainwater harvesting, Energy-Star Appliances, insulatiion, low VOC paint and a 47 panel solar PV system.
I've been looking on the Green Building Council's website to see, but all I can find is info on new construction. All I really wanted to do is see if there was a list of possible improvements that can be made on existing residential homes (and possibly the point rating) so I could know if I'm even in the ballpark to meet the LEED certification requirements.
I checked into this a few years ago, but with this new 2009 LEED v3.0 it looks like they dropped anything to do with existing residential homes, or maybe I'm just not looking in the right place.
So, has anybody else looked into this? Is anybody here familiar with where I can find this information? I want to see what it's like before I register and get inspected so I can tell whether or not it is worth the effort right now.
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Answer it!
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As a practicing "green builder" (I prefer the term socio-environmentally responsible builder) I find LEED to be somewhat of a scam because you can buy your way into a certification, and because it is a privately run and developed cert. For example, you can build a 4000 sq. ft. vacation home that will be used by an average of four people for three months out of the year and offset that by installing expensive photovoltaic and ground-source-heat-pump equipment, and xeriscapic plants, but you don't get extra credit for building a 400 sq. ft. home that comfortably houses two people year-round. You have to weigh the cost of obtaining the cert against the status/ value that it could POTENTIALLY add to your home, IF the the potential buyer cares about such things...
I think you've got it. I interpreted "Existing Buildings" to mean "Existing Commercial Buildings, but the checklist looks right. Thanks!
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