LEED is a standard associated with green building and green construction developed by the US Green Building Council (USGBC) for how green, efficient, and environmentally-friendly a building is. 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, waste handling, energy efficiency, materials selection, and indoor environmental quality.

LEED has various levels associated with it, depending on the number of points you earn as you do your building project: Certified, Silver, Gold, and Platinum. For example, buildings that are LEED Platinum buildings will do things such as taking aggressive measures to recycle water and generating more energy than they use.