LEED spans 833-million sq.ft. green building space: USGBC

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) announced on Wednesday that Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) comprises 833 million square feet of green building space in India. The announcement was made at The Energy Resource Center’s (TERI) 2015 Delhi Sustainable Development Summit (DSDS) which was addressed by USGBC’s President & Founding Chair Rick Fedrizzi and its COO, Mahesh Ramanujam.

The DSDS theme was how businesses will lead India’s energy, water and food security. Since LEED-certified buildings are part of the solution for energy savings, carbon mitigation and water conservation, LEED was featured throughout the programme.

“The solutions we need from our built environment require the full participation of the business community if we are to make progress against climate change, drive energy efficiency and the development of a diverse portfolio of energy resources that includes renewables, conserve precious water, and improve human health ,” said Fedrizzi.

According to USGBC’s recently-released ‘LEED in Motion: India report’, nine out of 10 industry senior executives in India anticipate LEED-related work to increase between now and 2019.

“Companies such as Infosys, Tata and the Delhi Metro are active and engaged LEED users that are seeing a real impact from LEED,” said USGBC’s Ramanujam.