2024 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition

This research investigates the relationship between Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) version 3 credit categories and the overall LEED score of multifamily residential projects to discern the actual contribution of each credit category in achieving the overall LEED score of the projects. The study compares the actual and the expected contribution of each category in achieving the overall LEED score to understand the success of this system in providing realistic and practical criteria for evaluating building sustainability and discuss the implications of the findings for sustainable construction education. Data regarding LEED-certified projects was collected from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) website and analyzed using multiple regression analysis. The results indicate that the actual contributions of Energy and Atmosphere, Sustainable Sites, and Indoor Environmental Quality align with their expected contributions, whereas inconsistencies are observed between the actual and expected contributions of Water Efficiency and Materials and Resources categories. These findings help sustainable construction educators use the lessons learned from current and past projects to highlight the potential barriers to achieving sustainability goals in construction and include strategies to overcome these barriers in the course curriculum.