From what I understand the current program requires buildings anywhere in the nation to achieve the certification. This doesn’t at all take into account the fact that our climate varies enormously across the nation. Thus a building in Las Vegas has to include the same rainwater capture and reuse systems as one in Houston in order to be certified. In what way is it environmentally responsible to spend an enormous amount of time, money and materials building rainwater capture systems that will never be used.

In the same way (and here I have to say I know nothing about this project) how environmentally concious is it to remove light wells that presumably would have allowed better use of natural light rather than requiring increased electric lighting? But yay, we got LEED certified so we must be environmentally friendly.