by: Jessica Sheridan Assoc. AIA LEED AP
On 11.01, the Green Building Certification Institute (GBCI) launched its Credentialing Maintenance Program (CMP) for all LEED Accredited Professionals. As a LEED AP who wants to stay active, I signed on to the agreement that I will complete 30 continuing education hours biennially and pay the $50 maintenance fee. Since I attend events regularly at the Center for Architecture, which is now incorporating Sustainable Design credits for CEUs, I thought it would not be too difficult to maintain 15 CEs per year to continue my LEED accreditation.
Once I logged on to the CMP Report Summary page, however, I realized that the system is much more complicated than I thought. Not only do I have to complete 30 hours overall, I have to complete a minimum amount of hours related to each section of LEED: four CEs for Project Site Factors; three for Water Management; six for Project Systems and Energy Impacts; three for Acquisition, Installation, and Management of Project Materials; five for Improvement to the Indoor Environment; two for Stakeholder Involvement in Innovation; and one for Project Surrounding and Public Outreach. In addition, six of the 30 hours must go toward LEED-specific training. To enter my CE hours I had to submit the date, subcategory, the type of event, a brief description, details about the event hosts, and information about the speakers, along with the number of CE hours I am reporting. After all of this, which I did a week ago, I am still waiting for approval from GBCI.
In the end, not only is self reporting tedious, but it is also unclear whether AIA SD CEUs will count toward LEED CE’s. The only listed approved provider is the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), and it seems from the website as if there is an organization — called Education Reviewing Bodies, or ERBs — that makes the decision whether or not a credit is LEED-worthy. For architects who have to complete 18 CEUs per year of AIA credits, how are they supposed to complete 15 CEs in addition that are solely generated by USGBC programming?
I am an advocate for sustainable design, and I was a proponent for LEED when it first launched. What I do not understand, however, is why organizations that provide continuing education for architects and engineers are not collaborating with the GBCI to develop the standards and provide sufficient training. At a time when sustainability is being integrated more into the practice of architecture, many believe that LEED will eventually become obsolete. In my opinion, the GBCI certainly is speeding up this process.