One of the first steps that a project team must take in order to reduce the energy consumption of a building is to design the project with energy goals in mind. These energy-saving benchmarks are defined in our latest infographic “Owner's Project Requirements (OPR)”. The project requirements outlined in the OPR infographic will serve as the reference points for all design, construction, and ongoing maintenance operations.

LEED v4^™ identifies seven impact categories that define the environmental issues that LEED® projects are tasked with addressing. The categories are focused on the overall themes of climate change, human health, water resources, biodiversity, material resources, a greener economy, and community. LEED® uses these impact categories as a performance-based framework. This framework, consisting of prerequisites and credits, is used by the building industry in the project accreditation process.