The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) is paying closer attention to building performance with LEED v3, the latest version of Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) accreditation, which requires the reporting of energy and water usage as a precondition of certification.

“Today there is all too often a disconnect, or performance gap, between the energy modeling done during the design phase and what actually happens during daily operation after the building is constructed,” said Scot Horst, Washington, D.C.-based USGBC’s senior vice president of LEED, in a release.

Tracking the post-construction data will help narrow that gap and provide opportunities to learn, said Brendan Owens, USGBC’s vice president of LEED technical development.

“We’re convinced that ongoing monitoring and reporting of data is the single best way to drive higher building performance,” Horst said, “because it will bring to light external issues such as occupant behavior or unanticipated building usage patterns, all key factors that influence performance.

“It will also help us to educate building owners on how users of the building can impact its energy use and water consumption,” he added, “to be sure the building is operating as it was designed to. Similar to the sticker on a new car that says the car will get 30 miles to the gallon, the car is calibrated to perform but it’s also reliant on the driver’s habits.”

The USGBC maintains that the requirement creates a data stream on LEED-certified building performance that can be used by owners and operators to optimize their buildings’ performance and promote the establishment of energy-efficiency goals over the life of the buildings.

Building owners and operators will have three ways to comply with the new stipulation: Energy and water usage data may be provided annually on an ongoing basis; the building owner may sign a release authorizing the USGBC to access the building’s energy and water usage data directly from the building’s utility provider; or the building may be recertified on a two-year cycle using LEED for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance.

According to Ashely Katz, the USGBC’s communications manager, projects that applied for LEED certification between the April 27 launch of LEED v3 and June 26, were given the option to register under older versions of the program, which do not require the additional reporting.

And only projects registered under LEED 2.0, one of the original versions of the program launched in 2000, were required to upgrade to the LEED v3 by the June 26 deadline, Katz said.

Projects subject to the new requirements must begin reporting the data within one year of achieving certification. Eventually, Katz said, all LEED-certified projects will most likely be required to upgrade to LEED v3, adding that projects that upgrade before Oct. 24, 2009, will avoid paying a new registration fee.

She said building owners understand that the requirement is reflective of changes and innovations in the building industry and that it will help keep them informed.

The performance information collected will also be able to inform future versions of LEED, Owens said.

“Building performance will guide LEED’s evolution, he said. “This data will show us what strategies work and which don’t so we can evolve the credits and prerequisites informed by lessons learned.”