Most of the criticism of LEED stems from the fact that it’s a points-based system that’s not particularly well-weighted. In other words, if I’m designing a building, I can get points by installing bike racks to encourage bike commuting or points for a green roof to reduce storm run-off. the difference in cost and commitment with those two things is huge but the difference in points (I don’t know the exact figures off the top of my head) is not as significant.

There’s also many people who are disappointed that LEED has not evolved more since it’s inception. We have new green building technologies every day, and the older technologies are getting cheaper and easier to implement. Yet the LEED criteria remain largely the same. I think there’s some momentum to update them, but the fact of the matter is that a lot of people are making a lot of money designing, building, and retro-fitting to the LEED standard. SO there’s not a lot of impetus for those folks to update the standard with stricter regulations.

Here’s a great article from Fast Company that describes in more detail the various criticisms.

I’ll write more about LEED soon.

From what you’ve described, I think LEED sounds like a pretty good standard for sustainable buildings, but you mentioned that there are criticisms. Can you point some of those out to us?