Innovation
What earns an innovation point
Innovation rewards significant, measurable environmental performance that the rating system does not otherwise address. Points come from four routes: a genuinely new strategy, exemplary performance that reaches a defined higher tier or doubles a credit threshold, a pilot credit, or a strategy addressed elsewhere in the rating system but applied in a way that merits recognition with documented justification.
Rules that decide questions
A prerequisite can never be used for innovation. The same strategy cannot earn both an existing credit and an innovation point; it is either credited normally, pursued as exemplary performance within that credit, or claimed as innovation when the credit does not cover it. Each innovation claim needs its own point and a submittal describing intent, the proposed requirement, the submittal format, and the measurable outcome. There is also a point for having a LEED Accredited Professional with a relevant specialty on the project team.
Traps
- Claiming we exceeded code with no metric attached; undocumented good intentions do not count.
- Proposing a strategy that an existing credit already covers, which should be exemplary performance instead.
- Assuming a pilot credit is automatically approved for any project.
- Trying to convert a prerequisite into an innovation point.
Rule of thumb
Before drafting an innovation claim, search the rating system for the strategy. If it maps to any credit, either pursue exemplary performance there or drop the innovation claim. Innovation fills gaps; it does not create duplicates.