The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) is a non-profit organization composed of leaders from across the building industry working to advance buildings that are environmentally responsible, profitable and healthy places to live and work. Driving its mission to transform the built environment is the Council’s LEED® (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Green Building Rating System™. LEED is a third party certification program and the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings. LEED is accessible on-line and supported by a robust LEED Workshop program and the LEED Professional Accreditation program.

LEED addresses all building types including new construction, commercial interiors, core & shell, operations & maintenance, homes, neighborhoods, and specific applications such as retail, multiple buildings/campuses, schools, healthcare, laboratories and lodging.

Based on well-founded scientific standards, LEED emphasizes state of the art strategies for sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor environmental quality. LEED promotes expertise in green building through a comprehensive system offering project certification, professional accreditation, training and practical resources.

USGBC supports a rich education and research agenda, including Greenbuild - the largest international conference & expo focused on green building. The Council also supports an aggressive education and advocacy program delivered at the local level through 74 chapters across the U.S. USGBC Chapters provide local green building resources, education and leadership opportunities. Local chapter members can connect with green building experts in their area, develop local green building strategies and tour green building projects.

Since its founding in 1993, USGBC has been focused on fulfilling the building and construction industry’s vision for its own transformation to highperformance green building. Today, it includes more than 17,000 member companies and organizations.
In testament to its leadership, in the past five years alone, USGBC’s membership has quadrupled and over 3.6 billion square feet of building space are involved with the LEED program. The annual U.S. market in green building products and services was over $7 billion in 2005 and is now over $12.billion.

Industry-led and consensus-driven, the Council is as diverse as the marketplace it serves. Membership includes building owners and end-users, real estate developers, facility managers, architects, designers, engineers, general contractors, subcontractors, product and building system manufacturers, government agencies, and nonprofits. Leaders from within each of these sectors participate in the development of the LEED Rating Systems and the direction of the Council through volunteer service on USGBC’s open committees.