LBC 4.0 FAQs

Can I upgrade my registered project to 4.0?

Yes! Upgrades are allowed on a per Petal basis with some caveats. The image below illustrates how the requirements in 3.1 correspond to the requirements in 4.0. For example, if a project is pursuing the Energy and Materials Petals under 3.1 and wants to upgrade to the 4.0 Energy petal, the project would need to comply with Imperatives 7 and 8 in 4.0, but because the embodied carbon offset requirement in I-11 Embodied Carbon Footprint of 3.1 has been moved to I-08 Net Positive Carbon in 4.0, the team may omit I-11 from the Materials Petal. Email lbc.support@living-future.org for more information about how to do this.

Can I still register under 3.1?

No. Registration for LBC 3.1 closed on December 31, 2019.

Has Petal Certification Changed?

Yes, Petal Certification now requires the achievement of all ten Core Imperatives, in addition to all Imperatives in either the Water, Energy, or Materials Petal.

What is Core Green Building Certification?

Core Green Building Certification is attained by achieving all ten Core Imperatives. See the Standard here.

How does LBC 4.0 affect the Living Community Standard (LCC)?

The current version of LCC is 1.2; it is not being revised at this time. Buildings certifying under LBC for purposes of the LCC, may register under any version of the LBC that is open at the time of registration.

There is no Core certification under the LCC.

Why a new version of the Standard?

The impetus for 4.0 was centered around tuning the effort expended in meeting requirements to better align with the resulting positive impact, raising the bar and increasing flexibility, and streamlining the approach. Building and Community certifications must be the same, ie for a Community to certify as Living, it must have the minimum number of buildings certified as Living.

When will the 4.0 Petal Handbooks be Available ?

They're currently available on the ILFI Membership Dashboard!

What is LBC Ready Recognition?

LBC Ready Recognition can be achieved by successful completion of an initial audit. The LBC Ready audit is a step in the certification process for projects pursuing Petal or Living certification, which provides a preliminary ruling on initial efforts and the intent to certify.

An LBC Ready ruling does not constitute certification of the project, but does indicate that the project is on track.

The LBC Ready audit may take place any time after construction is complete.
It is based on performance predictions
Ongoing water and energy monitoring are required
Recognition is valid for 18 months

I18 Inclusion requires a Just self assessment - what does this look like?

See the Just self assessment template here. You will need to upload the 5 completed Just self assessments in Portal under the required Inclusion / Just Self Assessment task. You may either upload the assessments as separate files or combine into one file with a separate tab for each assessment.