Nov. 18 – The U.S. Green Building Council, which opens its annual Greenbuild Conference & Expo tomorrow in Boston, made two key announcements today regarding its LEED and LEED-Neighborhood Development programs.

The organization announced that LEED 2009, the update to its flagship, commercial LEED green building rating system, passed member ballot and will therefore become the certification program’s latest iteration next year. Among the changes are the addition of regional credits that will provide extra points for elements identified as priorities in a project’s geographic area and a scientific re-weighting of credits designed to reflect climate change and energy efficiency as priorities.

The USGBC’s LEED-ND, aimed at green neighborhood design and development, opened for public comment yesterday following a nearly two-year pilot program. Comments will be accepted until Jan. 5. To view a draft and submit comments, click here.