The U.S. Green Building Council is planning to revamp its popular Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design green building rating system, in an effort to make it more user-friendly. USGBC, which hopes to create, with some exceptions, one LEED system instead of having LEED for residential and LEED for commercial, for example, expects to roll out the new system next fall.

Another likely change is that LEED will address life cycle analysis, something many of the users would welcome.

USGBC is "harmonizing and aligning credits" across all LEED rating systems, says the group. This will make the system more "adaptive and flexible." It will still allow additional credits that need to cover existing building types.

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To accomplish this, USGBC is reorganizing its committee structure. The new structure will focus on technical, market and certification committees, says the group. The market committee will identify market expansion opportunities; the technical committee will steer LEED's development; and the certification committee will ensure credits deliver on their intent across the rating system.

In addition to adding life cycle analysis to LEED, there will be credits given based on geographic region. The goal is to certify and connect design, construction and operations and maintenance.

On Thursday, Nov. 8, at the annual Greenbuild International Conference and Expo in Chicago, the USGBC announced a green building research agenda. The group is investing $1 million into the effort.

"The National Green Building Research Agenda challenges government, foundation, industrial, academic and other sectors to devote the resources commensurate with the scale of the environmental, economic and social opportunities we face as a planet," said Gail Brager, a professor at the University of California at Berkeley and chair of the USGBC research committee, in a press release.

Meanwhile, the pilot for LEED for health care is about to be released. The LEED for health care rating system is based on an existing greening health care guide. LEED for health care is expected to be released next year.

The convention drew a record 20,500 attendees, up from 13,300 last year. There were 850 exhibitors, up from 477 last year.