WHITE SALMON, Wash. — The New Buildings Institute (NBI) has released the broadest study to-date of the measured energy performance of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) buildings. The study gathered whole building energy data from 121 LEED for New Construction (LEED-NC) buildings across the country that had been occupied for at least one year.

On average, LEED buildings are delivering the anticipated savings, performing 25-30 percent better than national average or modeled baselines. Individual building results, however, display a high degree of scatter, with some performing much better than average and some much worse. These and other results from this exploratory study suggest several opportunities for improved feedback tools, follow-up research on actual performance factors, improved modeling guidelines, and LEED program refinements.

For more information, visit www.newbuildings.org.

Publication date: 03/17/2008