The LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Green Building Rating System is a voluntary building certification program defining high-performance green buildings as healthier and more environmentally-responsible structures.

LEED evaluates homes in the following areas: Sustainable Sites, Water Efficiency, Energy & Atmosphere, Materials & Resources and Indoor Environmental Quality. The level of certification a home will be awarded is determined by the number of points the project earns within these credit areas.

LEED for Homes (LEED-H) is a voluntary initiative to promote the transformation of the mainstream home building industry towards more sustainable practices. LEED-H is targeting the top 25 percent of homes with best practices environmental features.

The LEED-H definition of "green" includes four tiers of performance: Certified, Silver, Gold and Platinum. The main strength of the LEED-H program is the third-party verification. This verification process includes on-site inspections to ensure LEED-H features have been properly installed and performance testing to ensure proper performance.