The cover story today (with two complete inside pages!) for USA Today is a scathing attack on the USGBC and LEED for certifying all-glass buildings and even an over-the-top Las Vegas Casino. The article is chock-full of information which is going to be hard to ignore, I think.

I’m not qualified, from a building science point of view, to comment on the substance, but from a consumer point of view the article calls into doubt much of what the USGBC gives points for and … through guilt by association and the admitted ignorance of most consumers probably … other attempts to “certify” green construction.

If you can’t get a copy of the paper, there is a brief video (5-1/2 minutes) online which summarizes:

http://www.usatoday.com/videos/news/nation/2012/10/24/1653707/

At GREENINC.USATODAY.COM there is a database of the features that won points for 7100 buildings as compiled by the newspaper’s data-base editor and a reporter.

Tomorrow, the paper plans to describe “How business interests became a powerful force on the Green Building Council” as well as how “Big changes could be coming to LEED — but they won’t be required until 2015.”

For me, personally, the continual barrage of info confusing efficient building with profit and/or ego continues to direct my attention to the merits of the PGH (“pretty good house”) approach. (I was not paid for the preceding endorsement.)