WASHINGTON — Rick Fedrizzi, president, CEO, and founding chairman of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), announced that the organization is delaying the ballot on Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) 2012 until June 1, 2013. Because of the ballot date change, the new version of LEED will be known as LEED v4. USGBC will also have a fifth public comment period on the new version, which will be open from Oct. 2, 2012 through Dec. 10, 2012, during which time the Greenbuild Conference will be held, allowing for further education on the proposed changes.

Fedrizzi said in a statement, “We have heard repeatedly that while our community continues to fully embrace our mission, they need more time to absorb the changes we’re proposing and to get their businesses ready to take the step with us. Most importantly, they want more visibility into the infrastructural improvements we’ve promised with the LEED 2012 program — forms, documentation, education, and LEED Online — to inform their internal adoption strategies.