I was listening a podcast of Curtis B Wayne’s radio program, Burning Down the House, Episode 3, last night. Towards the end, they started talking about LEED.

I think anything that uses “points” as a system of determining quality or value is a bunch of crap. For example, school grades, SAT scores, GRE scores are all crap. I wish I had known that before I went through all the trouble of making sure I got high grades and high scores. But I digress.

Curtis said he thinks it’s crap too. Guest Gennaro Brooks-Church rejoined by saying that he was a LEED AP…

…but that he too thought it was crap. “I think it’s a good starting point. It’s better than not building…”

Curtis: “As a consciousness-raising…”

Gennaro: “No. If you’re a total moron developer, who has no scruples, I think if you gave him a LEED checklist, it would make a better building. But if you’re a green builder I think it’s a useful reference.”

He also mentioned Henry Gifford who did a study of LEED-certified homes. Turns out that they tend to use MORE energy than a non-LEED-certified home.

I did you the favor of finding the article for you.

http://www.finehomebuilding.com/item/5872/is-the-leed-program-a-fraud

The LEED rating system is “a tragedy,” according to Henry Gifford, resulting in buildings that use more energy, not less, and “a fraud perpetrated on U.S. consumers trying their best to achieve true environmental friendliness.” Henry is a mechanical systems specialist in New York City and, apparently, a vocal critic of the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design program.

Read the whole thing.

UPDATE

You can listen to Episode 12 of Burning Down the House to hear Henry Gifford.

And here’s Henry Gifford’s personal blog.