Happy Birthday LEED v3!

by Jeff Nippes

Depending on who you talk to, LEED v3 is either just about to turn two or just turned two. LEED v3 was actually released in April 2009 but the new version of the test did not start until June of 2009. In either case, LEED v3 has reached the two-year mark.

Why is that significant? Because everyone credentialed under LEED v3 has credential maintenance coming due. If you are a LEED Green Associate or LEED AP with Specialty, you have 15 or 30 hours of credential maintenance coming up, respectively. If you are a Legacy LEED AP and you opted to upgrade to a LEED AP with Specialty, you would have 30 hours of prescriptive credential maintenance coming due.

Don’t get caught scrambling at the last second trying to figure out how to get your credential maintenance hours, what activities count, or how to report your hours.

Here are some tips:

1. Consult the Credential Maintenance Guides that are available on www.gbci.org. These guides are the law when it comes to figuring out what activities count and what limitations there are for various activities. Bonus Tip: Taking approved professional development courses have no limitations.

2. Check to make sure that the courses you take are approved. All approved courses will show on www.usgbc.org under education  Find Courses tab. Select advanced options and you can search by providers.

3. Don’t let your credential maintenance deadline sneak up on you! Go to the GBCI site under ‘My Credentials’ and your due date will show. The last thing you want to do is try to cram in 15 or 30 hours at last minute.

4. Consult the professionals. If you are still uncertain about how many courses you need or you just simply don’t have the time to figure it out, call someone who knows. At RedVector, we have educational advisors standing by every day to help you navigate your requirements. We have more than 50 USGBC-approved courses including plenty of LEED-specific options. We also have 30-hour Prescriptive Credential Maintenance packages that will have everything you need to upgrade to a LEED AP with Specialty without retesting.

Happy Birthday LEED v3 and good luck with your credential maintenance!