When applying for jobs, candidates are often asked to submit supporting documentation to prove their academic degree, course completion, and/or other honors. Those who possess a professional credential in Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) have two official resources for advertising their LEED professional status. And employers, if you’re reading this, please use these tools to verify LEED accreditation for your job candidates.

Verify LEED Accreditation with these tools

When you sign up to take the LEED exam, you will create an account with the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) at www.usgbc.org. You will use this account to submit continuing education hours, sign up for additional LEED exams, and to utilize the two resources we are about to talk about – downloading your LEED credential certificate and getting listed in the USGBC Directory.

1. LEED Certificate

After you log into your USGBC Account, navigate to the left sidebar menu and choose the menu item labeled Credentials. From there, choose Overview.

On this page, you will see details about your LEED Accreditation status. Midway down the page, there is a section for “Download certificates.” You will see the names of the credentials for which you have passed exams. When you click the Download link, your official LEED certificate will immediately download to your computer.

The official LEED Accreditation certificate lists your name, credential, date issued, and expiration date.

As you’re applying for LEED jobs, be sure to include a digital attachment of this certificate to show proof of your LEED Accreditation. You may also print the certificate to include with hard-copy application materials. As a last resort, you can request for a printed certificate to be mailed to you for $25.

It’s important to maintain a copy of your LEED certificate so that you can provide third-party verification to anyone who may ask. While it’s great to list your LEED Accreditation on your LinkedIn profile, business card, and email signature for marketability purposes, the LEED certificate serves as a stamp of approval from USGBC.

2. USGBC Directory

The USGBC maintains three directories:

• Organizations – which features USGBC Member Companies that support LEED
• Projects – which features registered and certified LEED building projects
• People – which features individual supporters of LEED and LEED-accredited professionals

Of course we’re going to talk more about the directory for People.

The USGBC Directory for people is located at www.usgbc.org/people

You can search by name or browse the listings.

On a given profile, you may find the following information:

• Name
• Occupation
• Company
• Location
• Headshot
• Email address
• Earned LEED credentials
• Bio
• Badges

If you are applying for a LEED job, your prospective employer will likely utilize the USGBC Directory to verify your LEED accreditation, so it’s important that you opt into being shown.

Once again, log into your USGBC account and navigate to the left sidebar menu. Choose the Personal Profile menu item. You’ll see a bluish box at the top that explains the option to appear in the “Public directory listing.” You can toggle between two options: Visible and Hidden.

Regardless of whether you are currently seeking a LEED job, it’s in your best interest to appear in the USGBC Directory. Make sure that the “Visible” option is selected. On this same page, you can populate the information that will appear on your public directory listing.

And voila! You should now appear in the USGBC Directory for friends, colleagues, and prospective employers to see. The USGBC Directory is the best place for third parties to do a LEED license verification and check your status.

If you’re ready to add a LEED professional credential to your resume and skill set, start with Everblue’s LEED Green Associate Exam Prep training. We’ll teach you everything you need to know to pass the first-level LEED exam. From there, you’ll be all set to begin working in the LEED industry! For more information, give us a call at (800) 460-2575.

LEED stands for Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design. By the name and acronym alone, it might be unclear as to what kind of knowledge individuals are expected to have to pass the LEED exam, but hopefully we can shed some light on this below with our LEED exam outline information.

Before you can even start thinking about the LEED exam, you first have to ask, “Can LEED help my career? If so, how?”

To answer that question, you have to have a basic understanding of what LEED represents, specifically the knowledge areas and skills that are expected of LEED professionals. Take a moment to review our New to LEED? Start Here! series for more information about LEED.

An Introduction to the LEED Exam

A high-level outline of LEED knowledge areas is available in the Candidate Handbook published by the U.S. Green Building Council (the creators of LEED). While this information is relatively helpful to people who are new to LEED, you’ll see that the “Knowledge Domains” in the handbook are formatted very much like bullet points. In other words, you have to obtain knowledge in 9 categories and then know what the 8-9 terms in each category mean. Unless you have work experience on LEED building projects, the categories and concepts will likely look like gibberish to you.

For this reason, the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) developed a network of Education Partners. As a USGBC Education Partner, Everblue’s curriculum team gains exclusive access to the LEED exam specifications so that we can create LEED Exam Prep training programs that are helpful, informative, and accurate to the exam. Thus, candidates are not left to their own devices when studying for the LEED exam; they can follow along with tried-and-true curriculum that will teach them the concepts and explain the value and application of each LEED knowledge area.

Before we really get into the LEED Knowledge Domains, let’s briefly understand how the LEED exam is formatted.

Overview of LEED Exam Format

Each LEED exam contains 100 randomly generated multiple-choice questions. Because these questions are pulled from a pool of 1000+ questions, no two candidates will have the exact same exam. Candidates will have 2 hours to answer their unique 100-question exam.

According to the USGBC Candidate Handbook, the LEED credentialing exams assess a candidate’s abilities at three cognitive levels: Recall, Application, and Analysis.

• Recall Questions: These questions assess a candidate’s ability to recall factual material, such as numerical thresholds and precedent-setting standards.
• Application Questions: These questions provide the candidate with a novel problem or scenario that the candidate can solve using familiar principles or procedures.
• Analysis Questions: These questions assess a candidate’s ability to break the problem down into its components to create a solution. The candidate must not only recognize the different elements of the problem but must also evaluate the relationship or interactions of these elements.

The exams are computer-based and administered by Prometric, a third-party test-proctoring company with testing centers in nearly every major city in the world. Because the exam is digital, candidates will know their score immediately after they submit their responses.

The exam has both scored and unscored questions. Unscored questions are used to gather performance data to inform whether the question should be scored on future exams.

LEED Knowledge Domains

The LEED Knowledge Domains outlined in the Candidate Handbook are the main criteria that make up our LEED exam outline and are meant to provide a general overview of the exam content areas. They are organized by LEED Credit Category.

Regardless of which LEED exam you are pursuing – LEED Green Associate or LEED AP – you will be tested on your knowledge of the LEED Credit Categories. The difference is how the questions are weighted by category and the extent to which you must possess knowledge and technical skills.

Below you’ll see the breakdown of the three most popular LEED exams:

On the LEED Green Associate exam, candidates are asked the most questions about the LEED Process. This makes sense, given that LEED Green Associate is the entry-level credential for LEED professionals. As a LEED Green Associate, it’s important to understand the process and how different design, construction, and operations activities interact.

On the LEED AP Building Design + Construction (BD+C) exam, candidates are asked the most questions about Energy and Atmosphere. Concepts like building orientation, passive design, and space usage are most crucial at the new construction phase. The next most important category for LEED AP BD+C credential holders is Materials and Resources, which again makes sense when you’re thinking about building and material reuse.

On the LEED AP Operations + Maintenance (O+M) exam, candidates are asked the most questions about Energy and Atmosphere. Concepts like commissioning, demand response, renewable energy, energy metering, and benchmarking are directly applicable to the successful operations and maintenance of existing buildings. There are no questions on the LEED AP O+M exam on Integrative Strategies or Public Surroundings and Outreach, which is interesting since collaborative teamwork, interrelated systems, and codes are important to any building project.

If you’re looking for greater detail on what’s covered on the LEED exam, you should enroll in a LEED course. Start today with Everblue’s LEED Green Associate Exam Prep where we’ll take a deep dive into each of the LEED Credit Categories and sub-topics. We’ll teach you everything you need to know to pass the LEED Green Associate exam on your first try – guaranteed!

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!