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LEED-EBOM Now Most Popular Rating System

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LEED , Existing Buildings , Operations & Maintenance .

Today's tip is actually a bit of exciting industry news. As of December, 2011, according to the U.S. Green Building Council the square footage of projects certified with LEED for Existing Buildings: Operations and Maintenance, or LEED-EBOM, is now greater than that of projects certified by LEED for New Construction. EBOM has 15 million more square feet of certified space than does NC.

Historically, LEED-NC has been the rating system of choice, and has made up the overwhelming majority of LEED-certified green projects, both in volume and square footage. That was partially due to the fact that architects, more so than facility managers, had a tangible marketing benefit to showing they could design and build LEED-certified space. It was also due simply to the fact that LEED-NC had been available for several more years than LEED-EBOM had been.

But the tide began to turn in 2008, when LEED-EBOM began experiencing explosive growth. In 2009, projects certified under LEED-EBOM surpassed those certified under its new construction counterpart on an annual basis for the first time. This was a trend that continued in 2010 and 2011.

What's more, a McGraw-Hill study shows that commercial renovation and retrofit activity will more than triple by 2015. That represents a growth from 25 percent to 33 percent of construction activity by value, and a $14 to $18 billion opportunity.