LEED for Homes Illinois

Those familiar with the LEED for Homes rating system know there are many prerequisites that all projects must meet prior to Certification. These are spread across the credit areas, so there are prerequisites in Indoor Environmental Quality, Energy, Materials and Resources, and more.

One area that is a bit confusing is the Innovation and Design prerequisite for Durability Planning and Management (ID  prereq 2). This is a two-step process to help ensure homes are durable and built to last by mitigating any local climate variables on the home.  The first step is to identify risks, and the second is to identify strategies to address those risks. For example, if the home is being built in an area with high air infiltration, heat loss, and water infiltration, what design and construction strategies are being used to mitigate these issues?  Read more » »

The Materials and Resources (MR) credit 2.2 is one of the more challenging areas of LEED for Homes to get a handle on. First of all, the unique aspect in LEED for Homes is that credit is awarded on a building component - by - building component basis. This is significantly different from other versions of LEED.  For instance, a project can earn credit just for flooring.

Additionally, there are many options for how a certain building component actually earns credit Read more » »