Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design is an internationally recognized green building certification system, providing third-party verification that a building or community was designed and built using strategies aimed at improving performance across all the metrics that matter most: energy savings, water efficiency, CO2 emissions reduction, improved indoor environmental quality, and stewardship of resources and sensitivity to their impacts.

In March 2010, the U.S. Navy cut the ribbon on its first LEED Silver certified facility, located at Naval Base Ventura County, California. This building will use 31 percent less energy and 23 percent less water than comparably sized buildings designed without a LEED approach. More than 50 percent of the building’s construction waste was diverted from landfill disposal.

All future U.S. Navy military construction projects are being designed to meet LEED Silver standards for energy cost avoidance, greenhouse gas emission reduction, and enhanced energy security for the Navy’s shore infrastructure.