The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) has announced Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Automation, a program designed to streamline and create capacity for the LEED building-certification process. Created in collaboration with various technology companies, LEED Automation enables LEED Online, the online tool used to submit documentation and certify LEED projects, to interact with third-party technology platforms.

LEED Automation works similarly to an application. It performs three functions for LEED project teams and LEED Online users by integrating third-party applications with LEED Online:

• Provides automation of various LEED documentation processes.
• Delivers a unified view of LEED projects.
• Standardizes LEED content and distributes it consistently across multiple technology platforms.

This is the first time the USGBC has opened LEED Online to the software-application market and third-party software developers.

“LEED Automation allows USGBC and the technology companies to create multi-party interactions vs. point-to-point communications between various software applications and IT systems,” Scot Horst, senior vice president of LEED, USGBC, said.

The technology agreement also allows communities of independent system, software, and service owners to collaborate to deliver a better customer experience.