How Green Building Standards Can Actually Change People's Behavior

Confirming previous analysis, newly published research indicates that real estate development located, designed and built to the standards of LEED for Neighborhood Development will have dramatically lower rates of driving than average development in the same metropolitan region. In particular, estimated vehicle miles per person trip for 12 LEED-ND projects that were studied in depth ranged from 24 to 60 percent of their respective regional averages. The most urban and centrally located of the projects tended to achieve the highest shares of walking and transit use, and the lowest private vehicle trip lengths.

Put another way, even the "worst" performing of the LEED-ND projects is predicted to generate 40 percent less driving than an average development in its metropolitan region, according to the study’s sophisticated transportation models. This is largely because LEED-ND, a development rating system based on a set of voluntary standards, guides projects to locate within or adjacent and connected to already urbanized areas, and to be designed with walkable streets and densities. LEED-ND also rewards transit access, with increasing credit given to projects served by more frequent and plentiful transit options.