By earning your LEED AP credentials, you can showcase your knowledge, experience, and credibility in the green building industry.

LEED AP stands for LEED Accredited Professional. Though this sounds like a great starting point, there’s actually a MANDATORY level beneath it called LEED Green Associate. Earn your LEED credential now!

All people interested in LEED – regardless of education, occupation, or experience – must first start at the LEED Green Associate level. After you pass the LEED Green Associate exam, you can then decide whether you want to pursue the LEED AP credentials.

But there’s one more catch: Multiple LEED AP credentials exist! Which one should you get?

In this post, I’ll give you a little bit more of the backstory on why you must earn LEED Green Associate before LEED AP. I’ll also give you more information on which LEED AP credentials might be best for you.

A Quick History on LEED Credentials

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) created the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) standards in the year 2000 as a way to differentiate high-performance green buildings from the traditional building stock. Each building that satisfied the LEED requirements would not only become more energy-efficient, durable, and safe but would also go on to earn a “LEED Certification” label for marketability purposes.

A year later, the USGBC launched the LEED credentialing exams for individuals. Because “LEED Certification” was already a designation for buildings, the USGBC created a label called “LEED Accreditation” for people. Thus, when someone passed the LEED credentialing exam, they would become a LEED AP, or LEED Accredited Professional. The LEED AP designation aimed to showcase construction professionals who were knowledgeable on green building topics and LEED strategies.

In 2009, USGBC changed its LEED credentialing process. It became apparent that some individuals needed a basic understanding of LEED, while others needed to understand the intricacies and documentation behind LEED building practices. The USGBC aimed to accommodate the various levels of knowledge by offering a tiered hierarchy of titles. They introduced LEED Green Associate as the entry-level designation and LEED AP Specialty for advanced building professionals.

As you can see, instead of simply taking the LEED AP exam, all professionals now must pursue the LEED Green Associate accreditation as a mandatory first step before pursuing the *new* LEED AP Specialty designation. You’ll also notice that the original LEED AP credential has been retired. (LEED Fellow is a super advanced designation for LEED AP Specialty professionals with years of work experience, who have been nominated for their contributions to the green building industry by fellow LEED AP credential holders.)

How Pre-2009 LEED AP is Different from LEED AP Specialty

Prior to 2009, the only designation available was LEED AP, which illustrated a high-level understanding of LEED in general. In a sense, this level was actually replaced by LEED Green Associate. As more buildings started to incorporate LEED principles, a gap was created in the marketplace for advanced green building experts who regularly worked on LEED projects. Not only did they not want to be lumped in with the entry-level professionals, but they craved more technical knowledge to do their jobs better.

The LEED AP Specialty certification is different from the original LEED AP designation in that a LEED AP Specialty demonstrates proficiency in a specific track of LEED building projects (such as new construction or existing buildings), whereas the original LEED AP title highlighted an individual’s overall understanding of LEED.

There are five LEED AP Specialty designations available:

• LEED AP Building Design + Construction (BD+C)
• LEED AP Operations + Maintenance (O+M)
• LEED AP Interior Design + Construction (ID+C)
• LEED AP Homes
• LEED AP Neighborhood Development (ND)

So when it comes to the LEED credentialing process, all candidates are required to first earn the LEED Green Associate accreditation as a means of demonstrating the basic understanding of LEED. From there, an individual can choose to remain a LEED Green Associate (if it’s appropriate for their job and career goals) OR they can upgrade to become a LEED AP with a Specialty in a building category related to their occupation.

We’re going to talk about the two most popular LEED AP credentials right now, which are LEED AP BD+C and LEED AP O+M.

Build it Right (From the Start) with LEED AP BD+C

Often known as LEED for New Construction, the LEED AP Building Design + Construction specialty provides a framework for building a holistic green building.

When designing and constructing a new building, project teams have a choice: to join the movement of global leaders producing innovative buildings from the ground up…or to maintain the status quo. Those who want to create healthy, resource-efficient, cost-effective buildings would choose to specialize in LEED Building Design + Construction.

Who It’s For

• Suits professionals with expertise in the design and construction phases of green buildings, serving the commercial, residential, education, and healthcare sectors
• Intended for the core team members participating on the new construction or major renovation of a commercial, institutional, or industrial building project
• Individuals who hold this credential are often architects, engineers, developers, or consultants who want to lead their teams to greater success in delivering sustainable solutions

Because the LEED AP BD+C qualifies professionals to work on a wide range of building types, it offers a solid foundation of green building knowledge and project flexibility.

Improve Existing Buildings with LEED AP O+M

There are many existing buildings around the world that are inefficient and resource-depleting. A specialist in LEED Operations + Maintenance can turn an existing building around with informed choices and unique strategies.

According to the USGBC, it can take up to 80 years to make up for the environmental impacts of demolishing an existing building and constructing a new one, even if the resulting building is extremely energy efficient. It makes more sense to retrofit an existing building and bring it up to today’s standards.

Who It’s For

• Distinguishes professionals implementing sustainable practices, improving performance, heightening efficiency, and reducing environmental impact in existing buildings through enhanced operations and maintenance
• Intended for cross-disciplinary teams participating on the renovation or retrofit of an existing building
• Individuals who hold this credential are often property managers, facility managers, building engineers, HVAC technicians, commissioning agents, pest control contractors, janitorial staff, or sustainability consultants who want to lead their teams to greater success in delivering sustainable solutions

With so many existing buildings available to upgrade, there is so much promise for LEED AP O+M credential holders.

Which LEED AP is Best for Me?

By this point, you should have an idea of which LEED AP credential is best suited to your current role and/or the work that you’d like to do. It’s okay if you’re not yet sure about which LEED AP credential you want – remember that you have to earn your LEED Green Associate accreditation first!

During your LEED Green Associate exam preparation, you will gain exposure to all of the LEED categories and strategies, which will better inform you on which LEED AP credential is appropriate for you.

You may also be wondering, is it possible to earn multiple LEED AP credentials? Yes. Depending on the work that you do, and especially if you are a sustainability consultant with a wide range of clients, it may be a good idea to earn more than one LEED AP credential. This way, you can demonstrate proficiency on multiple types of building projects and use your specialized knowledge to make smarter choices along the way.

I hope this post has offered a helpful explanation to what it means to be a LEED AP. If you have any other questions, please don’t hesitate to give us a call at (800) 460-2575 or to enroll in our LEED Green Associate exam prep training. We’ll teach you everything you need to know to be successful with a career in LEED! Get started today!

On June 21, 2018, the American Public Transportation Association (APTA) and mass transit systems across the country will celebrate the 13th Annual National Dump the Pump Day.

Dump the Pump Day encourages people to ride public transportation as a means of taking them where they need to go, instead of driving a car.

Dump the Pump Day Overview

Started in June 2006, when gas prices were $3 per gallon, this national day emphasizes that mass transit is a convenient travel option that helps people save money and helps communities grow and prosper.

From urban to suburban to rural communities, public transportation is a vital resource to Americans, and a cornerstone of our nation’s economy and local economies. In fact, public transportation helps to make a community economically competitive. Additionally, mass transit provides economic opportunities, since 87% of public transit trips directly impact the economy.

How Mass Transit Plays into Green Building

Everblue was founded on the principles of economic stability and reducing our nation’s dependence on foreign oil. This mission led us to teaching courses on sustainability and green building. Our most popular program teaches architects, engineers, facility managers, and other construction-industry professionals how to design, build, and maintain buildings according to the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standards. LEED, for short, is the leading certification program for buildings, homes, communities, and relevant stakeholders that want to demonstrate their environmental and economic advantages achieved through green building strategies.

If you’ve been following the LEED program, then you know that there has been more and more attention given to buildings that are located near amenities and mass transit. One of the common misconceptions about LEED Certification is that it’s just incorporating a few energy-efficient technologies into your building design, but it’s so much more than that. LEED Certification is about creating a healthy, safe, and durable building in addition to it being energy-efficient.

To offer a point of reference, the U.S. Green Building Council, who created the LEED standards, dramatically updated the LEED program in 2014 to what is called LEED Version 4. One of the major components to this update was the “creation” of the Location and Transportation category. Previously, these focus areas were included in the Sustainable Sites category, but with growing awareness on the benefits of public transportation, the USGBC broke those focus areas into their own section.

The Location and Transportation category provides eight opportunities for a building to provide optimum access to quality alternative transportation and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The sub-sections in this category are:

• LEED for Neighborhood Development location
• Sensitive land protection
• High priority site
• Surrounding density and diverse uses
• Access to quality transit
• Bicycle facilities
• Reduce parking footprint
• Green vehicles

For more information about each of these strategies, you should consider enrolling in a LEED Green Associate Exam Prep course. This training is designed to take a deep dive into all of the LEED v4 categories so that you can talk confidently about LEED and work on LEED building projects.

Awesome Facts About Public Transportation

Given that June 21 is Dump the Pump Day, I’d like to take a moment to focus on “Access to quality transit.”

Technically, this section is described as having the intent to:

Encourage development in locations shown to have multimodal transportation choices or otherwise reduced motor vehicle use, thereby reducing greenhouse gas emissions, air pollution, and other environmental and public health harms associated with motor vehicle use.

The American Public Transportation Association (APTA) has been kind enough to supply supporting statistics that further show the benefits of mass transit. For example, here’s a snapshot of its awesome facts:

Economic Benefits

• For every $1 invested in public transportation, $4 is returned in economic returns.
• Every $1 billion invested in public transportation supports and creates more than 50,000 jobs.
• Public transportation is a $68 billion industry that employs more than 420,000 people.
• Every $10 million in capital investment in public transportation yields $30 million in increased business sales.
• Home values performed 42% better than when located near high-frequency public transit.
• Hotels in cities with direct rail access to airports raise 11% more revenue per room than hotels in those cities without.

Safety Benefits

• A person can reduce his or her chance of being in an accident by more than 90% simply by taking public transit as opposed to commuting by car.
• Traveling by public transportation is 10 times safer per mile than traveling by automobile.

Money Benefits

• The average household spends 18 cents of every dollar on transportation, and 96% of this goes to buying, maintaining, and operating cars, the largest expenditure after housing.
• A household can save nearly $10,000 by taking public transportation and living with one less car.

Environmental Benefits

• Public transportation use reduces our nation’s dependence on foreign oil by 4.2 billion gallons of gasoline a year.
• It also saves 37 million metric tons of carbon emissions annually.

Personal Benefits

• Millennials consider public transportation as the best option for digital socializing and among the best for connecting with communities.
• Public transportation provides personal mobility and freedom for people from every walk of life.
• Access to public transportation gives people transportation options to get to work, go to school, visit friends, or go to a doctor’s office.
• A total of 87% of trips on public transit have a direct impact on the local economy.
• Of all riders, 71% are employed and 7% are students.
• More than two-thirds of riders walk to their stop or station.

Become an Advocate for Mass Transit

On a more personal note, I just want to share how much I enjoy public transportation. It’s so convenient and reliable and so utterly accessible for so many people.

I rely on mass transit when I go on vacation. Much of my vacation research showed that it was “impossible” to navigate Los Angeles for a week on only public transportation – well I did, and I had no problem. From downtown LA to Hollywood to Santa Monica to Venice Beach to Long Beach, I took buses and light rail for all of my adventures. In recent years, I’ve traversed New York City, Boston, and Los Angeles all through subway, bus, and light rail.

It was only after my most recent trip to LA that I started to consider the possibility of using public transportation in my everyday life. I’ve started to pay more attention to where the bus stops are located near me, and I also found that there are three Park and Ride facilities in my area as well. Now my only difficulty is navigating our local public transportation company’s website to find out the bus schedule! I am adamant about improving this process and getting the word out that public transportation is awesome! I’m super excited that Dump the Pump Day exists, and I hope folks give it a try.

Our local university recently completed its construction on a light rail stop on campus that takes students and riders downtown. A few weeks ago, I chose to take the light rail into the city and geeked out the entire time about how simple and fun it was. Check out my photos below from my experience!

Light Rail Stop	Incoming Light Rail
Inside Light Rail	Light Rail Stop Downtown