A Georgia bill that would effectively ban state-owned buildings from seeking LEED certification is waiting for the governor to sign it into law, WABE reports.
The bill requires state buildings that seek any green building certification must use a program that allows Georgia lumber. LEED uses a forestry standard that doesn’t include most wood from Georgia — bill sponsor Sen. Dean Burke, R-Bainbridge, tells the radio station LEED “discriminates against 97 percent of the wood” grown in state.
Earlier this month the US Green Building Council said it will now recognize energy and water requirements from the Living Building Challenge green building system within the LEED green building program.
This means that projects achieving the energy and water requirements in Living Building Challenge will be considered as technically equivalent to LEED.
