The U.S. Green Building Council expects to substantially revise LEED next year, forcing builders beginning in 2015 to take new and more-detailed steps to get buildings certified as environmentally friendly by the private non-profit group.

The revision, if approved by the council's 13,000 members in June, will change some of the easier strategies that builders have used to get new commercial projects LEED-certified. It also seeks to address concerns that certified buildings do not live up to their projections of reduced energy and water use. Some proposed changes have generated so much concern from the building industry that the council put off making the new version mandatory until June 2015, allowing builders to continue to use the LEED version that took effect in 2009. See the full story at www.usatoday.com.