LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. The United States Green Building Council (USGBC) created LEED as a rating system for green building.

Green building refers to the design, construction, and operation of buildings in an environmentally friendly way. LEED promotes a whole-building approach to sustainability by recognizing performance in five key areas of human and environmental health: sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection, and indoor environmental quality. The rating system is specific to the type of project being worked on. Some of the specific programs are LEED-New Construction, LEED-Existing Buildings, LEED-Commercial Interiors, LEED-Core and Shell, LEED-Homes, LEED-Neighborhood Development, LEED-Schools. The rating systems are broken down in to points for each type of credit. Certification levels within the systems are:

• Minimum points: Certified
• Second highest points: Silver
• Third highest points: Gold
• Fourth-maximum points: Platinum

For more information check out the USGBC website 

Energy Relevant Categories:

Category 1: Sustainable Sites

• Building placement/orientation
• Factoring in natural heating and cooling 
•  Microclimate conditions
• Heat-island effect

Category 3:   Energy and Atmosphere

• 17 Possible Points
•  Three Prerequisites
• Several EA credits implicate building energy modeling
• Look at building as a system

Category 5:   Indoor Environmental Quality

• Natural v/s Mechanical ventilation
•  Balancing air flow/make-up air
• Heat recovery

Innovation & Design Process

• Intent: Provide design teams with points for exceptional performance above LEED requirements and/or innovation in categories not addressed by LEED
•  Does not apply to innovation used to achieve an existing LEED credit
• Examples: Cogeneration; Hybrid systems