E - The Environmental Magazine

Written and edited by Roddy Scheer and Doug Moss

January 12, 2013 (San Diego)--Dear EarthTalk: What is the Living Building Challenge and how does it differ from the LEED certification program?                                                 -- Jason Marshall, Richmond, VA

Both Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) and the Living Building Challenge (LBC) were created with the same goal in mind: to encourage more sustainability and resource conservation in architecture, design, construction and building operations. LEED, a program of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), is well known in architecture, building and design circles as the standard for certifying the green attributes of new and retrofitted structures (and even entire neighborhoods).