innovation and design - GreenHome Institute

The White House isn’t the only residence earning accolades for having a food garden on its property. With the newly-released pre-approved Innovation and Design (ID) credit, LEED for Homes projects that incorporate a food garden into the design will be eligible for an ID point, if certain specifications are met.

The intent of the Food Garden credit is to provide a functional and sustainable means of supporting the homeowner’s food needs. A project may earn credit for an on site food garden if all of the following conditions are met:

There are no deed restrictions that prohibit food production on the residential properties.
The area must have solar access (i.e., receive direct sunlight for a significant amount of time during the day).
The food garden must be seeded, or the homeowner(s) must be provided with seeds, or seedlings AND a diagram showing the recommended lay-out of the plants or climate-appropriate crops.
The food garden must comprise at least 200 square feet for one home. For multi-family buildings or multi-home developments, the food garden must comprise at least:
200 square feet per home, if the density for the project is < 14 units per acre;
100 square feet per home for 14-22 units/acre;
80 square feet per home for 23-28 units/acre;
70 square feet per home, for 29-35 units/acre;
60 square feet per home, for > 35 units/acre.

Food gardens allow homeowners to not only provide sustenance for their own food needs, but also help them connect with their environment. As people start gardens, they frequently choose to use natural resources such as rainwater harvesting and encourages waste diversion in the form of composting.

For more details, download the Pre-approved ID credit: Food Garden Looking for help on your LEED for Homes project? Contact , the LEED for Homes Provider of choice.

New LEED for Homes Pre-approved ID Point

LEED for Homes project teams that sign up for USGBC’s Building Performance Partnership (BPP) are now eligible to earn an optional point in Innovation and Design (ID) point for Utility Tracking, which will be done via EarthAid.net.

For the residential market, providing performance data for energy and water usage after occupancy is not required as in other versions of LEED rating systems. Instead, this new ID point will be awarded if homeowners voluntarily enroll in the BPP program. Ideally, this will eventually allow USGBC at the aggregate level to collect and analyze data to see how LEED homes actually perform post-occupancy.

Why would homeowner’s care? Well the partner USGBC is using for this event is Earth Aid, which actually gives consumers credit for saving on their energy costs as compared to other homes in their area. The more energy saved, the more points are accumulated that can be used at retailers and local vendors. Best of all, this service is free.

LEED for Homes project homeowners can sign up with Earth Aid here:

*Note – LEED projects must use that full URL as it is unique to LEED for Homes (you’ll see the LEED for Homes logo appear in the upper-left here, and after login, when you as the Rater are verifying this credit).

Here is the official ID language:

Approved ID Request: Utility Tracking
Maximum Points: 1

Intent
To provide advanced monitoring and reconciliation of energy and water use at the whole building and end use levels. To provide for the ongoing accountability of building utility consumption over time.

Requirements

Prerequisites
None.

Credits
The homeowner must enroll in the USGBC Building Performance Partnership (BPP) for all applicable metered utility accounts, prior to submitting for LEED Certification.

Verification and Submittals
Supporting Verification made available by the Project Team:

Present a screen shot of the log-in screen to verify the enrollment of each utility account in USGBC’s Building Performance Partnership.

Verification Team:

Visually verify that the project successfully enrolled each applicable utility (ie, water, gas, electricity) in BPP.

Become A Member

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