The Leadership in Energy and Environment Design (LEED) rating system, established by the non-profit US Green Building Council (USGBC) is a widely accepted framework for evaluating of the greenness of any building. LEED buildings are judged on six quantifiable measures of sustainability - sustainable sites, water efficiency, energy and atmosphere, materials and resources, indoor environmental quality, and innovation and design. Based on these criteria, LEED buildings are classified as certified, silver, gold, or platinum, the pinnacle of greenness. There are more than 750 buildings in the U.S. that have achieved a LEED rating, but only 18 LEED buildings are classified as "laboratories," a designation made by the project team and not USGBC.
In 2005, Labs for the 21st Century (Labs21) devised a specialized sustainability rating system for laboratories built off the LEED framework called ...
