Everything in LEED v4 that touches lighting, fixtures, interior controls, daylighting, exterior/site lighting, metering, demand response, and commissioning, organized as a working reference for a lighting and building-automation company. Built around BD+C (New Construction), with ID+C and O+M differences flagged in every article.
How to use this wiki
Each credit gets its own article with an infobox (points, referenced standards, related credits), the requirements paraphrased in practical language, hard thresholds highlighted like 30–70%, and step-by-step documentation notes. Callouts flag places where LEED v4.0 and v4.1 diverge or where addenda make it essential to verify the live number. Superscript markers like[2] cite the numbered reference list, so every claim can be traced to its source. Start with Versions & deadlines if you're new to how LEED versioning works in practice.
LEED in one minute
LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is the world's most widely used green-building rating system, run by the US Green Building Council (USGBC) and certified through an independent body, GBCI.[1] In plain terms it is a scorecard: an independent check that a building was actually designed and built to hit sustainability benchmarks, rather than just marketed as "green." Owners pursue it for asset value, tenant demand, and, increasingly, ESG and regulatory reasons.
A project earns points by meeting optional credits, but only after it clears every mandatory prerequisite. Prerequisites are pass/fail and worth zero points; miss one and the project cannot certify at any level, no matter how well it scores everywhere else. Everything above that floor is a menu, and the team picks which credits to chase.
The point total decides the level. A LEED v4 project is scored out of 110 points:[2]
Certification level
Points required
Certified
40–49
Silver
50–59
Gold
60–79
Platinum
80+
Those 110 points break down as 100 base points across the credit categories, plus 6 for Innovation and 4 for Regional Priority.
Where the points live
The base points are split across categories, and not evenly. The two heaviest by far are Energy & Atmosphere and Indoor Environmental Quality, which is exactly where most lighting work sits. For a salesperson that is close to the whole pitch: lighting and controls reach into the most point-dense categories on the scorecard, usually at lower cost than mechanical upgrades.[2]
Category
Points (BD+C NC)
Lighting shows up here?
Energy & Atmosphere (EA)
33
Yes, the biggest category
Indoor Environmental Quality (EQ)
16
Yes
Location & Transportation (LT)
16
No
Materials & Resources (MR)
13
No
Water Efficiency (WE)
11
No
Sustainable Sites (SS)
10
Yes, exterior and site lighting
Innovation
6
Sometimes
Regional Priority
4
Sometimes
Integrative Process
1
No
Add up the categories where lighting appears (EA, EQ, and SS) and it has a foothold in more than half of the base points, even if it only ever claims a slice of each.
Regional context (adjacent to LEED)
In the Gulf, LEED is common on flagship, corporate, and internationally financed projects; the Aldar Academies HQ and Masdar Office Buildings in this wiki's examples both certified under it. It runs alongside local mandates rather than replacing them: Abu Dhabi's Estidama Pearl Rating System[18] and Dubai's Al Sa'fat green-building system[19] are separate schemes a project may also have to meet. If a client just says "green building," confirm which system before quoting anything.
Where lighting touches the scorecard
Lighting appears in three credit categories, and in two mandatory prerequisites, meaning controls work can sink a certification, not just earn points.
"LEED v4" is not one frozen document. Understanding how v4.0, v4.1, addenda, and the LEED v5 transition interact is the difference between quoting the right threshold and quoting a number that was corrected years ago.
Registration and sunset dates (current as of mid-2026)
USGBC originally set June 30, 2026 as the last day to register new commercial projects under LEED v4/v4.1. In response to market feedback about supply-chain and financing delays, USGBC extended that deadline by one year:
Registration close: LEED v4 and v4.1 BD+C, ID+C, and O+M projects can register through June 30, 2027. After that, new commercial registrations go to LEED v5.[7]
Certification sunset: registered v4/v4.1 projects have until June 30, 2033 to submit their initial certification application. Projects on the split-review timeline submit for design review by that date and get roughly 18 additional months for the construction review.[7]
Special pathways (Campus/Master Site, Group, Volume, O+M recertification, O+M: Interiors) have their own dates, check USGBC's deadlines page for the specific program.
Practical takeaway
v4 projects will be in your pipeline into the 2030s. But every new pursuit should confirm which rating system and version the project is actually registered under, because that determines which credit language governs, and whether v4.1 substitutions are in play.
v4.0 vs. v4.1, and credit substitution
LEED v4.1 was released as an incremental update, and USGBC allows a v4-registered project to substitute individual v4.1 credits, credit by credit, without re-registering.[6] In lighting, this matters most for one specific number: the v4.0 Interior Lighting glare-control luminance threshold of 2,500 cd/m², which practitioners (including on USGBC's own LEEDuser forums) consider effectively unachievable for ordinary direct-distribution fixtures and understand to have been a drafting error.[15] v4.1 corrected it to 7,000 cd/m² and added a UGR < 19 alternative.[6] Most active projects pursuing that strategy substitute the v4.1 credit even when everything else stays v4.0.
v4.1 also restructured the Daylight point table (adding a lower 40% sDA tier and relaxing ASE from a hard disqualifier to a justify-in-writing item) and simplified the Interior Lighting control option to "dimmable or multilevel lighting for 90% of spaces." Each credit article in this wiki flags the v4.1 delta where it changes design or documentation decisions.
Addenda and LEED Interpretations
USGBC continuously issues addenda (corrections/clarifications) and LEED Interpretations (precedent-setting rulings) that modify credit language without a version-number change.[5] Lighting-relevant examples covered in this wiki: the ASE exemption for automated dynamic façades and small rooms under Daylight, corrections to the surface-illuminance-ratio calculations in Interior Lighting Option 2, the off-grid/net-zero pathway under Demand Response, and the 2024 update to energy-performance thresholds. The authoritative, always-current text lives in USGBC's online credit library and addenda database, see Sources.
Credit naming: drop the old numbers
USGBC's official v4 checklists and forms reference credits by full name only, "EQ Credit: Interior Lighting," not "EQc6" or the LEED 2009-era "IEQc6.1."[1] Community sites and older articles still use shorthand numbering (this wiki notes it where helpful for searching forums), but submittals and correspondence should use full credit names.
Every LEED v4 project must beat a baseline defined by ASHRAE/IES 90.1-2010, via a whole-building energy model (Appendix G) or a prescriptive path. Because 90.1-2010's Section 9 makes an aggressive lighting-control package mandatory regardless of compliance path, this prerequisite is effectively the controls contractor's statement of minimum work.
What it requires
Under the original v4 language, projects using the performance (modeling) path had to demonstrate improvement over the Appendix G baseline of 5% for new construction, 3% for major renovations, and 2% for core-and-shell.[2] Projects on the prescriptive path comply with the applicable ASHRAE 50% Advanced Energy Design Guide instead of modeling.
Verify current thresholds
USGBC issued a LEED v4 energy update (2024) raising improvement thresholds toward v4.1 alignment and adding source-energy and GHG metrics as alternatives to the cost metric.[8] The registered project's LEED Online forms are authoritative, confirm the live prerequisite threshold with the LEED administrator of record rather than quoting the original numbers above.
The mandatory lighting-control package (ASHRAE 90.1-2010 §9.4.1)
These apply to essentially every project because §9's mandatory provisions can't be traded away in the energy model. The full engineering detail lives in the ASHRAE 90.1-2010 deep dive; the headline items:
Automatic shutoff everywhere. Interior lighting must turn off automatically when spaces are unoccupied, occupancy sensor, time-of-day schedule, or a signal from another system. A wall switch alone doesn't comply. The 2010 edition removed the old small-building exemption, so this applies even under 5,000 ft².[9]
Occupancy/vacancy sensors by space type, classrooms, conference and meeting rooms, break rooms, private offices, restrooms, storage, and similar enclosed spaces; sensor-based shutoff within 30 min of vacancy under the 2010 edition (later editions tightened to 20).
Daylight-responsive controls in defined sidelit and toplit daylight zones, with multi-level or continuous dimming response, not just an on/off photocell, where installed lighting power in the zone crosses the standard's trigger (§9.4.1.4–9.4.1.5 define the zone geometry and power triggers).
Multilevel manual control in many space types, occupants need at least one intermediate light level, not just full on/off.
Automatic reduction in stairwells and parking garages during unoccupied periods.
Exterior lighting control via photosensor and/or astronomical time switch for dusk-to-dawn operation, with façade/landscape lighting subject to scheduled shutoff.
Functional testing (§9.4.3) of all controls before handover, plus documentation, control narrative, as-builts, maintenance schedule, delivered to the owner within 90 days of system acceptance.
The commercial upside: control power credits
90.1-2010 grants a lighting power allowance bonus when above-minimum control strategies are installed, power adjustment factors of roughly 5–30% applied to the controlled load, depending on strategy (e.g., continuous daylight-harvesting dimming earns more than simple switching).[9] That directly loosens the LPD ceiling the designer must hit, which is a concrete, sellable reason to spec a more capable control system than the code minimum.
ID+C variant
Commercial-interiors projects don't model the whole building. The ID+C prerequisite offers an energy-modeling path requiring at least a 3% improvement across the tenant scope of work, or a prescriptive path requiring at least a 5% reduction in connected lighting power density versus the 90.1-2010 allowance, calculated by either the space-by-space method or the whole-building lighting power allowance.[3] The ID+C prerequisite form also hosts the daylight-control and occupancy-control points described under Optimize Energy Performance.
The biggest single block of points on a v4 scorecard, and lighting is usually the cheapest lever for moving it, because connected lighting power is a large, directly controllable share of a commercial building's modeled electricity use.
Compliance paths (BD+C)
Option 1, whole-building energy simulation. Model percentage improvement over the ASHRAE 90.1-2010 Appendix G baseline; points scale with the improvement percentage. Under the original v4 New Construction (NC) table the range ran from a 6% improvement for the first point up to 50% for the full 18.[2]
New Construction
Major Renovation
Core and Shell
Points (except Schools, Healthcare)
Points (Healthcare)
Points (Schools)
6%
4%
3%
1
3
1
8%
6%
5%
2
4
2
10%
8%
7%
3
5
3
12%
10%
9%
4
6
4
14%
12%
11%
5
7
5
16%
14%
13%
6
8
6
18%
16%
15%
7
9
7
20%
18%
17%
8
10
8
22%
20%
19%
9
11
9
24%
22%
21%
10
12
10
26%
24%
23%
11
13
11
29%
27%
26%
12
14
12
32%
30%
29%
13
15
13
35%
33%
32%
14
16
14
38%
36%
35%
15
17
15
42%
40%
39%
16
18
16
46%
44%
43%
17
19
-
50%
48%
47%
18
20
-
Option 2, prescriptive (Advanced Energy Design Guide). Implement the applicable ASHRAE 50% AEDG recommendations for the building type and climate zone. The AEDG point table includes an explicit line item for interior lighting, including daylighting and interior finishes, worth 1 point (NC), with exterior lighting covered in the envelope/lighting groupings depending on the guide.[10]
Thresholds are a moving target
This credit's percentage-to-points table is the most heavily revised part of LEED v4, the 2024 energy update raised thresholds toward v4.1 alignment and added source-energy/GHG metric options. Treat any printed table (including this one) as historical context and pull the live table from the project's LEED Online form.[8]
The rule that shapes your proposals
The energy model only rewards control strategies beyond what ASHRAE 90.1-2010 already mandates. A conference-room occupancy sensor that §9.4.1 requires anyway earns nothing extra; multilevel occupancy sensing, daylight-adaptive dimming in zones where it isn't triggered by code, institutional-grade scheduling granularity, and plug-load control layered on top do. Frame scopes accordingly: code-minimum controls protect the prerequisite; the above-code layer earns points here.
ID+C: the lighting-specific point ladder
Interior projects score lighting directly, which makes this the most quotable part of the credit for a controls company:
Strategy (ID+C)
Threshold
Points
Lighting power density reduction below the 90.1-2010 allowance (beyond the 5% prerequisite)
10%
1
15%
2
20%
3
25%
4
Daylight-responsive controls
≥ 25% of connected lighting load
1
Occupancy-sensor controls
≥ 75% of connected lighting load
1
These control points are documented on the ID+C EA prerequisite/credit forms, they're additional to anything pursued under EQ: Interior Lighting.[3]
Documentation notes
Connected lighting load is determined per ASHRAE 90.1-2010 §9.1.3–9.1.4, and plug-in lighting counts.[9] Keep one load spreadsheet as the single source of truth shared with the Interior Lighting submittal, reviewers cross-check the two.
For control documentation, a color-coded floor plan showing control type per room (occupancy, daylight, manual multilevel), cross-referenced to the form's percentages, is the format reviewers process fastest.
The metering floor: whole-building consumption tracking that the Advanced Energy Metering credit then builds on.
Requirements
Permanently installed meters (utility-owned meters qualify) that aggregate total building energy use across every source serving the building, electricity, natural gas, chilled water, steam, fuel oil, propane, biomass, as applicable.
Data resolution of at least monthly (or utility billing period) intervals for consumption, and demand where applicable.
A commitment to share whole-building energy data with USGBC for 5 years (beginning at occupancy or typical operation).[2]
For a controls company the practical note is simple: this prerequisite defines the floor, and it's almost always satisfied by the utility meter. The value-add conversation happens one level up, at Advanced Energy Metering, where your platform's native load monitoring can earn the point.
Meter every energy end use that represents 10% or more of annual consumption, a bar lighting clears on its own in most commercial buildings. Often the closest thing to a free point a networked lighting control system can deliver.
What must be metered
All whole-building energy sources, with advanced metering characteristics; and
Any individual energy end use, lighting, heating, cooling, fans, pumps, plug loads, etc., representing ≥ 10% of the building's total estimated annual consumption (all fuels converted to a common unit for the comparison).[2] The end-use breakdown should follow the energy model honestly; structuring the model to slice end uses artificially below 10% is the kind of gaming reviewers reject.
Meter specifications
Meters (and submeters) counted toward the credit must be:
Permanently installed and recording at intervals of 1 hour or less, transmitting data to a remote location;
For electricity: recording both consumption and demand;
Connected to a data-collection network, LAN, building automation system, or wireless;
Storing at least 36 months of data, remotely accessible, and capable of reporting hourly, daily, monthly, and annual usage.[2]
Why this is your credit to claim
Many networked lighting-control platforms log circuit- or panel-level load natively and expose it over BACnet or the vendor's API, which can satisfy the lighting end-use requirement without a separate stand-alone submeter. Flag this capability explicitly in proposals rather than letting the electrical engineer default to additional metering hardware. The same infrastructure feeds monitoring-based Enhanced Commissioning and the interval-metering requirement inside Demand Response Case 2.
Core & Shell variation
C&S projects meter base-building energy sources with advanced metering, and install tenant metering so each tenant can independently track total energy use for their space (at least one meter per energy source per floor); tenant equipment end uses don't need advanced metering. Confirm the tenant-metering specifics against the current reference guide language for C&S, this is a spot where the credit form and reference guide have been clarified over time.
Design the building to shed or shift real load when the grid asks. Lighting load-shed, dimming or extinguishing non-essential lighting on an external signal, is the textbook automated strategy, and the BAS integration is exactly a building-automation company's home turf.
The two cases
Case 1, a DR program exists (2 points). Design for real-time, fully automated DR initiated by an external signal from the program provider (semi-automated operation is acceptable in practice); enroll in at least a 1-year DR participation contract, with intent to renew, covering at least 10% of estimated peak electricity demand (peak demand as established under the Minimum Energy Performance work); include DR processes in the commissioning scope with at least one full test of the plan.[2]
Case 2, no program available (1 point). Install the readiness infrastructure, interval-recording meters and equipment capable of accepting an external signal; develop a comprehensive plan to shed at least 10% of estimated peak demand; include DR in the commissioning scope with at least one full test; and document contact with the local utility about future program participation.
Off-grid / net-zero pathway. A LEED Interpretation allows projects built to function off-grid with all demands met on site to earn the full 2 points; verified net-zero projects have a related pathway.[5]
What counts, and what doesn't
The credit wants a reduction in the building's own peak electricity use. On-site generation (PV, generators) that reduces grid draw without reducing building consumption does not satisfy the intent.
Permanent efficiency measures (e.g., always-on daylight harvesting) don't count as DR shed capacity, the shed has to be an event-responsive sequence held in reserve.
Qualifying shed strategies include dimming/extinguishing non-essential lighting, HVAC setpoint adjustments, and deferring non-critical loads. In cooling-dominated climates, HVAC alone frequently can't reach 10%, which is why the lighting layer usually ends up carrying part of the shed.
Field reality
This is among the least-frequently earned EA credits, not because the controls are hard, but because the utility relationship, the DR sequence programming, and the commissioning test each need an owner. If your BAS scope includes the sequence, say early who owns utility outreach.
Lighting and lighting-control systems are explicitly inside the commissioning scope. Every sequence you program, occupancy response, daylight dimming, scene recall, DR triggering, gets functionally tested against the owner's project requirements, and the documentation trail is yours to produce.
Fundamental Commissioning (prerequisite)
The commissioning authority reviews the owner's project requirements (OPR) and basis of design (BOD), develops the Cx plan, and verifies that energy-related systems, lighting and controls included, are installed and perform as designed. This overlaps with, but is distinct from, the functional-testing mandate already inside ASHRAE 90.1-2010 §9.4.3: LEED's commissioning is owner-requirements-driven, the ASHRAE testing is code-compliance-driven, and a well-run project satisfies both from one set of test scripts.[2][9]
Enhanced Commissioning (credit, up to 6 points)
Adds depth: back-checks of construction documents, submittal review, seasonal testing, a systems manual, operator training verification, and a 10-month post-occupancy review[2], plus optional paths for monitoring-based commissioning (which leans on the metering infrastructure) and envelope commissioning. If monitoring-based Cx is pursued, lighting energy trends from your control platform become part of the ongoing-performance evidence.
What to hand over, and when
A written control narrative / sequence of operations per space type, the same document underpins the prerequisite, the Interior Lighting credit, and the Cx functional-test scripts.
Functional test scripts for occupancy timeout, daylight-dimming setpoints and deadbands, multilevel/scene behavior, and DR event response, written into your scope from day one, not reconstructed when the commissioning agent asks.
As-built control drawings, point lists, and the maintenance schedule that 90.1-2010 requires within 90 days of acceptance.
The credit that is literally about your scope. LEED 2009's one-point "Controllability of Systems - Lighting" grew into a two-point credit: one point for occupant lighting control, one for lighting quality. A project may pursue either or both, independently.
Option 1, Lighting Control (1 point)
Both conditions must be met (see Space definitions for what counts as which space type):
Individual occupant spaces: for at least 90% of them, provide individual controls letting the occupant adjust lighting to their task and preference, with at least 3 lighting levels or scenes, on, off, and a midlevel. The midlevel must sit between 30% and 70% of maximum illumination, and daylight contribution does not count toward it (nor does daylight count as one of the three levels).[2]
Shared multioccupant spaces (all of them): multizone control systems enabling occupants to adjust lighting to group needs, with the same minimum three levels/scenes; plus, per the credit's multioccupant provisions, controls accessible from within the space and situated so the operator can see the controlled lighting.
Task lighting can help satisfy individual-space control (the O+M version states explicitly that task lights need not be hardwired; for BD+C confirm treatment with the reviewer). Control interfaces via wall stations, apps, or desktop software have all been discussed on project forums, the safe pattern is demonstrating that every counted occupant genuinely has access to the three levels.
v4.1 delta
v4.1 collapses Option 1 into a single requirement: dimmable or multilevel lighting for 90% of occupant spaces.[6] Interpretation questions about which spaces count ("occupant spaces" vs. "regularly occupied") drove several GBCI clarifications, see Space definitions.
Option 2, Lighting Quality (1 point)
Eight strategies, A–H; achieve any 4.[2] A–D concern the fixtures and sources; E–H concern room surfaces and the illuminance falling on them, which means E–H need early coordination with the architect/interiors team, while A–D live in your fixture schedule.
#
Strategy
Requirement (v4.0)
A
Glare control
All regularly occupied spaces: fixture luminance < 2,500 cd/m² between 45°–90° from nadir. Exempt: wallwash fixtures properly aimed per manufacturer data; indirect uplights with no sightline into them from above; other specific applications (e.g., adjustable fixtures). See correction note below.
B
Color rendering
Entire project: sources with CRI ≥ 80. Exempt: lamps specified for colored effect, site lighting, other special use.
C
Source life
75% of total connected lighting load: rated life (or L70 for LED) of at least 24,000 h, at 3 h per start where applicable.
D
Direct-only limit
Direct-only overhead lighting ≤ 25% of total connected load in regularly occupied spaces, favors direct/indirect and indirect distributions.
E
Surface reflectance, room
Area-weighted average reflectance for regularly occupied spaces of 85% ceilings, 60% walls, 25% floors (per the credit's Table 1 and reflectance equation, verify against current addenda).
F
Surface reflectance, furniture
Where furniture is in scope: 45% work surfaces, 50% movable partitions (area-weighted average).
G
Illuminance ratio, walls
Wall-to-work-surface average illuminance ratio not exceeding 1:10 for the counted spaces (avoids the "cave effect" of dark walls); must be paired with strategy E or F or an equivalent wall-reflectance demonstration per the credit table.
H
Illuminance ratio, ceiling
Ceiling-to-work-surface average illuminance ratio not exceeding 1:10; must also meet strategy E, strategy F, or demonstrate area-weighted ceiling reflectance of 85%.
Strategy A: the famous broken number
The v4.0 2,500 cd/m² limit is applied to the maximum luminance value between 45° and 90° in the fixture's photometric (IES) data, and practitioners report that essentially no direct-only downlight or highbay passes it; it is widely understood to have been a drafting error.[15] LEED v4.1 corrected the limit to 7,000 cd/m² and added an alternative path: modeled UGR < 19.[6] v4.1 also allows exclusions for shipping/receiving, warehouse, and distribution areas that must hold IES-recommended footcandles under high mounting constraints. If a project wants this strategy, use the v4.1 credit substitution rather than fighting the v4.0 number.
G & H fine print
USGBC issued addenda correcting errors in the original G/H ratio calculations, and v4.1 removed the lamp-life, direct-only, and illuminance-ratio strategies entirely (replacing Option 2 with a shorter strategy list where 1 strategy = 1 point, 3 strategies = 2 points). Pull the live calculation from the current reference guide before modeling.[5][6]
Step-by-step (Option 2, hardware strategies)
Identify all regularly occupied spaces and tabulate the total connected lighting load from the Minimum Energy Performance lighting power calcs (luminaire quantities × wattages, per ASHRAE 90.1-2010 §9.1.3–9.1.4; plug-in lighting included).
For A: pull luminance tables from cut sheets or .ies files (photometric software exposes the luminance data table in 45°–85°/90° steps); every value in the 45°–90° band must comply.
For B/C: capture CRI and rated-life/L70 data on the fixture schedule; compute the C percentage against connected load.
For D: classify each fixture's distribution and compute the direct-only share of connected load.
For E–H: obtain finish reflectance values from the architect, run the area-weighted reflectance equation, and (for G/H) model wall/ceiling vs. work-plane illuminance.
Rating-system variations
Retail & Hospitality: Option 1 follows the standard steps for office/administrative areas, plus at least three lighting levels in sales areas; Hospitality excludes guest rooms from control calculations. Retail also has modified Option 2 provisions, check the credit's Rating System Variations section.
Healthcare: the lighting-control requirement applies to all regularly occupied spaces rather than the individual/multioccupant split, with its own Option 2 modifications.
Residential spaces (in mixed-use/multifamily): one control per individual and multioccupant space, e.g., a dimmable overhead or task light in a bedroom suffices.
Museums: exhibit and collection spaces may be excluded.
India ACP (Strategy I): meeting the illuminance levels in BIS IS 3646 (Part 1):1992, Table 1 in all regularly occupied spaces may be used as a strategy.[17]
ID+C: same two-option structure; note that daylight/occupancy control points also live on the EA form (see Optimize Energy Performance).
O+M: parallel credit evaluated against the existing installation; task lights allowed and not required to be hardwired; adds a strategy verifying that spaces meet recommended illuminance levels (IES Lighting Handbook basis; BIS code for India).[4][14]
Individual/multioccupant space classifications must be applied consistently with EQ Credit: Thermal Comfort (LEED treats the definitions as shared, see Space definitions).
This credit rewards manual occupant control; Optimize Energy Performance rewards automatic daylight/occupancy control. The sequences must coexist, design manual overrides and scene structures that don't defeat the automatic strategies the energy model claims.
Not an electric-lighting credit on its face, its stated intent is connecting occupants to the outdoors, reinforcing circadian rhythms, and reducing electric lighting use, but two of its moving parts sit squarely in a controls company's scope: mandatory glare-control devices, and the daylight-responsive dimming that turns modeled daylight into real energy savings.
Baseline requirement (all options)
Provide manual or automatic (with manual override) glare-control devices for all regularly occupied spaces, interior shades/blinds, motorized shading, or electrochromic glazing. This applies regardless of which compliance option is pursued.[2] (Core & Shell: not required in future tenant fit-out areas.)
Option 1, Annual simulation: sDA + ASE (2–3 points)
Run annual climate-based simulations per IES LM-83-12 for every regularly occupied space:
sDA300/50%, the share of regularly occupied floor area receiving at least 300 lux from daylight alone for at least 50% of occupied hours. Points (v4.0, non-Healthcare): 55% → 2 points, 75% → 3 points.[2]
ASE1000,250, the share of that area receiving over 1,000 lux of direct sun for more than 250 occupied hours per year must not exceed 10%; per LM-83, blinds are modeled deployed for sDA but open for ASE (fixed shading counts in both).[11] Spaces exceeding 10% need a narrative on how glare is addressed, and under v4.0 scoring, over-lit area is effectively excluded from the sDA total.
Addendum relief: spaces with an automated dynamic façade system, or spaces smaller than 250 ft², are exempt from the ASE requirement (per LEED Interpretation/addendum, confirm the current text).[5]
Modeling parameters (per the credit + LM-83): analysis grid ≤ 2 ft (600 mm) square at a 30 in (760 mm) work plane; hourly time-steps for a full calendar year, 8 a.m.–6 p.m. local clock; nearest TMY (or equivalent) weather data; final glazing schedule; all permanent interior obstructions (movable furniture/partitions may be excluded).[2][11]
v4.1 delta
v4.1 adds a 40% sDA tier worth 1 point (so 40/55/75 → 1/2/3) and softens ASE from an automatic disqualifier to a written-justification item.[6] Healthcare keeps its own perimeter-area basis (defined under EQ Credit: Quality Views) and lower point scale.
Simulate 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. on a clear-sky day at the equinox and compute the share of regularly occupied floor area with illuminance between 300 and 3,000 lux at both times: 75% → 1 point, 90% → 2 points. Simpler and cheaper than Option 1, but with a lower ceiling, and note the areas can't simply be averaged across the two times; each time must comply.
Option 3, Measurement (2–3 points)
For buildings far enough along to measure: take illuminance readings at the work plane between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m., once in any regularly occupied month and a second time in roughly the opposite season per the credit's pairing table, on a grid of ≤ 10 ft for spaces over 150 ft² (≤ 3 ft for smaller). Area achieving 300–3,000 lux at both measurements: 75% → 2 points, 90% → 3 points. Rarely the new-construction path of choice; more relevant to O+M-adjacent work.
Why the controls contractor should sit in the daylighting meeting
The glazing strategy that wins sDA creates the ASE/glare exposure your shading-control sequence must manage, automated shading with manual override satisfies both the baseline requirement here and the LM-83 modeling assumptions, and can trigger the ASE exemption.
The energy savings the daylight design promises only materialize through the daylight-responsive dimming mandated by ASHRAE 90.1-2010 and rewarded by Optimize Energy Performance. Photosensor zoning should mirror the daylight model's zones, or the model's claims won't survive commissioning.
Half the review comments on lighting credits are really arguments about space classification. The EQ Overview section of the reference guide, not the individual credits, is where LEED defines the space types every lighting calculation depends on.
The taxonomy
Occupied space
Enclosed space intended for human activities, the umbrella category, split into regularly and nonregularly occupied.
Regularly occupied space
Enclosed areas where people normally spend time, defined as more than 1 hour of continuous occupancy per person per day, on average.[2] This is the denominator for Daylight and for most of Interior Lighting Option 2.
Nonregularly occupied space
Occupied spaces failing the one-hour test, corridors, stairways, restrooms, locker rooms, storage, and other pass-through areas.
Individual occupant space
A regularly occupied space where an occupant performs distinct tasks, private offices and open-office workstations. Basis of the 90% control requirement in Interior Lighting Option 1.
Shared multioccupant space
Regularly occupied spaces of collaboration or group activity, conference rooms, classrooms, plus, per GBCI guidance, spaces like ordinary laboratories. All of them need multizone control under Option 1.
GBCI clarifications worth knowing
Per the EQ Overview's occupied-space subcategories, spaces that are not regularly occupied or not used for distinct/collaborative tasks are neither individual nor multioccupant, so break rooms, corridors, restrooms, and stairways fall outside Option 1's control counts. An open office is generally treated as one occupant space for v4.1's simplified control option. When classification is ambiguous (residential open plans, labs, flexible space), ask the reviewer early, project teams have received materially different answers by space type.[15]
Consistency rule
Whatever classification map you adopt must be used consistently across EQ credits (Interior Lighting, Daylight, Quality Views, Thermal Comfort). Build the space-type table once, get the design team to sign off, and attach it to every lighting submittal.
Exterior and site lighting: limit uplight (sky glow), light trespass, and glare. v4 substantially streamlined the LEED 2009 version, the interior "curfew dimming" documentation is gone (absorbed into ASHRAE 90.1's automatic-shutoff mandate), and a fixture-rating shortcut was added so many projects can comply from the cut sheet alone.
Step zero: classify the lighting zone
Assign the project one MLO lighting zone, LZ0 (no ambient lighting: wilderness, dark-sky preserves) through LZ4 (high ambient: dense urban cores), using the IES/IDA Model Lighting Ordinance User Guide definitions, based on conditions at the start of construction.[13] Every numeric limit in the credit keys off this zone.
Scope and the lighting boundary
Requirements apply to all exterior luminaires inside the project boundary (minus the exemptions below), evaluated with each fixture's photometrics in its designed orientation and tilt. The lighting boundary defaults to the property line, adjustable in three cases:
Abutting public walkway/bikeway/plaza/parking: boundary may move 5 ft (1.5 m) beyond the line.
Abutting a public street, alley, or transit corridor: boundary may move to the centerline.
Contiguous parcels under the same ownership with the same-or-higher lighting zone: boundary may expand to include them.
Additionally, every luminaire located within 2 mounting heights of the boundary must be oriented with its backlight toward the nearest boundary line (building-mounted fixtures with backlight toward the building are exempt from the backlight rating requirement).[2]
Option 1, BUG rating method
Specify fixtures whose Backlight–Uplight–Glare ratings, as defined in IES TM-15-11 Addendum A[12] for the specific installed source, don't exceed the credit's maximums:
Uplight (U): maximum U rating varies by lighting zone (Table 1 of the credit).
Backlight (B) and Glare (G): maximums vary by zone and by the fixture's distance from the lighting boundary measured in mounting heights (Table 3), wall-mounted fixtures aimed at the building are evaluated on glare only.
This is the practical path when vendors publish BUG ratings: identify the worst-case allowable rating for the project's zone and boundary geometry, and specify at or below it. Ratings can also be computed from photometric files for fixtures without published values.
Option 2, Calculation method
Uplight: the percentage of total site lumens emitted above horizontal must not exceed the zone-specific maximum (Table 2).
Trespass: vertical illuminance at the lighting boundary must not exceed the zone-specific maximum (Table 4), computed on vertical calculation planes; documentation is submitted for the worst-case plane.
Uplight and trespass may use different options, e.g., BUG for uplight, calculation for trespass.
Internally illuminated signage
Signage must meet nighttime/daytime luminance limits, commonly documented as ≤ 200 cd/m² at night and ≤ 2,000 cd/m² daytime[2] (confirm against the live credit table, and note signage often belongs to a different subcontractor, assign ownership explicitly).
Exemptions
Provided they're controlled separately from non-exempt lighting, the credit exempts (non-exhaustively): specialized signal/directional/marker lighting for transportation; lighting used solely for façade and landscape lighting in LZ3/LZ4 that switches off automatically from midnight–6 a.m.; and theatrical lighting for stage, film, and video. The credit lists additional exemptions (e.g., government-mandated roadway lighting, certain safety lighting), pull the full list from the credit language when scoping.[1]
O+M / existing fixtures
Existing installations must be included in the analysis; where a legacy fixture can't be identified, teams analyze a comparable current fixture with matching source, wattage, lumen output, and physical design.
The same credit name behaves differently across BD+C, ID+C, and O+M. This matrix is the ten-second lookup; each cell links back to the detail article.[2][3][4]
Beyond the base credits, lighting work can pick up Innovation-category points three ways.
Exemplary performance
The Daylight credit's Option 1 can earn an additional Innovation point for exceeding the top simulation threshold, one reason Option 1 (up to 3 + 1 exemplary) is usually recommended over Option 2 (max 2) when the simulation budget exists. Confirm the current exemplary threshold in the reference guide's exemplary-performance table before promising it.[2]
Pilot credits
USGBC's Pilot Credit Library periodically hosts lighting-relevant options a project can pursue for Innovation points. Example: a daylight-in-nonregularly-occupied-spaces pilot requiring at least 40% of nonregularly occupied area to achieve 100 lux for 10% of the hours between 8 a.m.–6 p.m. (thresholds revised in 2022).[16] Pilot availability and language change frequently, search the live library per project.
Adjacent programs (not LEED, but on the same jobs)
Clients dual-pursuing the WELL Building Standard will find heavy conceptual overlap on daylight and lighting quality, but USGBC and IWBI both state that satisfying one system doesn't automatically satisfy the other, thresholds and documentation differ. Budget separate documentation passes even when the design strategy is shared.
A control narrative / sequence of operations per space type, the backbone of the prerequisite, the Interior Lighting credit, and the commissioning test scripts.
A control-type floor plan, color-coded by room (occupancy, daylight-responsive, manual multilevel), cross-referenced to the form percentages, the format reviewers parse fastest.
Photometric files (.ies) / cut sheets for every exterior fixture (BUG verification) and any interior fixture run through Option 2 Strategy A.
The space-classification table (regularly occupied / individual / multioccupant), signed off by the design team, see Space definitions.
Site lighting-zone classification and lighting-boundary plan, done before exterior fixtures are ordered.
Functional-test scripts for occupancy timeout, daylight-dimming setpoints, scene/multilevel behavior, and DR event response.
Value ranking (where your scope earns most, in order)
EA prerequisite compliance is non-negotiable, nothing else matters if the mandatory 90.1-2010 control package isn't right.
Advanced Energy Metering, nearly free if the control platform logs load data natively; say so in the proposal.
Demand Response, technically easy for a BAS shop, organizationally orphaned; assign the utility-outreach owner early.
Light Pollution Reduction, a fixture-selection exercise that succeeds when the BUG spec lands before procurement.
Project-lifecycle timing
Schematic design: space-classification table; lighting-zone determination; daylight-model coordination (photosensor zoning should mirror the daylight zones); decide which v4.1 substitutions the team will use.
Design development: fixture schedule with CRI / L70 / distribution / BUG columns built in; control narrative v1; connected-load workbook v1.
Construction documents: control-type floor plans; DR sequence if pursued; commissioning test scripts drafted.
Construction / closeout: functional testing (LEED Cx + 90.1 §9.4.3 from one script set); as-builts, point lists, maintenance schedule within 90 days of acceptance[9]; metering data flowing before the performance period.
The recurring ways lighting scope loses points (or a prerequisite) in review.
Specifying to the broken v4.0 glare number. Fighting 2,500 cd/m² when the v4.1 substitution (7,000 cd/m² or UGR < 19) exists.[6] See Interior Lighting.
Counting code-mandated controls as energy-model savings. Only above-90.1-minimum strategies earn model credit.
Misclassifying spaces. Break rooms, corridors, restrooms, and stairways are neither individual nor multioccupant spaces, including them in Option 1 counts (or omitting the classification table entirely) invites rework. See Space definitions.
Midlevel set outside the band. The middle scene must land at 30–70% of maximum output, excluding daylight, a scene programmed at 20% or "daylight counts as the mid level" both fail.
Manual-control credit vs. automatic-control savings fighting each other. Occupant scene overrides that permanently defeat daylight dimming undermine what the energy model claimed; sequence the override timeouts deliberately.
ASE modeled with blinds closed. LM-83 requires blinds open for ASE (deployed for sDA); getting this backwards flatters the model and fails review.[11]
Commissioning scripts assembled retroactively. Functional-test documentation gets requested late and missed often, write it with the sequences.
The signage nobody owned. Internally illuminated signage limits inside Light Pollution Reduction usually belong to a different subcontractor; assign it.
Quoting stale thresholds. Especially energy-performance percentages (revised 2024) and G/H ratio calculations (addenda-corrected). Pull live language from LEED Online.
LEED v4's energy baseline. The 2010 edition was the most aggressive controls revision in the standard's history to that point, and it defines the mandatory floor under every LEED v4 lighting-controls scope.[9]
Section map
Section
What it governs
Where it shows up in LEED
§9.1.3–9.1.4
Installed / connected lighting power determination (plug-in lighting included)
Automatic shutoff, all buildings. Schedule, occupancy sensing, or an unoccupied signal from another system; the pre-2010 exemption for buildings under 5,000 ft² was removed. Exceptions: 24-hour operation, patient care, safety/security risk.
Occupancy sensing by space type, classrooms (excluding shop/lab), conference/meeting rooms, break rooms, private offices, restrooms, storage/janitor closets, and similar; automatic-off within 30 min of vacancy (2010 edition). Automatic-on, where used, limited to manual-on or auto-on to ≤ 50% power in many space types (the "manual-on/50% rule").
Hotel/motel guestrooms: master control at the entry; guestroom bathrooms need occupancy sensing that switches off within 60 min, night-lighting up to 5 W exempt.
Multilevel manual control in applicable spaces, at least one intermediate step between off and full output.
Automatic daylighting control in primary sidelit and toplit zones once installed lighting power in the zone crosses the section's trigger, with multi-step or continuous dimming response. (Secondary sidelit zones were added in the 2013 edition, relevant when local code exceeds the LEED baseline.)
Stairwell / parking-garage automatic reduction during unoccupied periods.
Exterior lighting: photosensor or astronomical time-switch for dusk-to-dawn; façade/landscape lighting on scheduled shutoff. (Editions after 2010 add occupancy-based exterior reduction and per-zone wattage caps, check the locally adopted code.)
Retrofit trigger: lamp-plus-ballast retrofits touching ≥ 10% of connected load in a space pull that space into LPD and automatic-shutoff compliance, a frequent surprise on renovation work.
Functional testing + handover docs: §9.4.3 testing, then control narrative, as-builts, recommended relamping program, and maintenance schedule to the owner within 90 days of acceptance.
Edition control
LEED v4's baseline is the 2010 edition, but the locally adopted energy code may reference 2013/2016/2019/2022, whichever is more stringent governs construction. Design to the stricter document and document LEED against 90.1-2010; the exact daylight-zone power triggers and timeout values differ between editions, so cite the edition in your narrative.
Every external standard the lighting-related portions of LEED v4 lean on, and what each one is for.[2] Full bibliographic entries live in the reference list.
Standard
Role
Used by
ANSI/ASHRAE/IES 90.1-2010 (with errata)
Energy baseline; mandatory lighting controls (§9.4.1); connected-load method (§9.1.3–9.1.4); LPD tables; Appendix G modeling; control power credits
The vocabulary of LEED v4 lighting, in one place. Definitions paraphrase the reference-guide and standards language.[2][9]
ASE, Annual Sunlight Exposure ASE1000,250
Share of floor area receiving over 1,000 lux of direct sun for more than 250 occupied hours/year; LEED's over-lighting/glare-risk check, modeled with operable blinds open per LM-83. See Daylight.
BUG rating
Backlight-Uplight-Glare luminaire classification per IES TM-15-11 Addendum A; the shortcut compliance path in Light Pollution Reduction.
Connected lighting load
Total installed lighting wattage determined per ASHRAE 90.1-2010 §9.1.3–9.1.4, plug-in lighting included; the denominator for several Interior Lighting strategies and ID+C control points.
CRI, Color Rendering Index
0–100 scale of how faithfully a source renders colors versus a reference; Interior Lighting Strategy B requires ≥ 80.
Daylight-responsive control
Photosensor-driven dimming or stepping of electric light in response to available daylight; mandatory in defined daylight zones under 90.1-2010, point-earning beyond that.
Individual occupant space / shared multioccupant space
The EQ Overview's space taxonomy driving Option 1 control counts, see Space definitions.
L70
LED lumen-maintenance life: hours until output depreciates to 70% of initial; the LED equivalent of rated lamp life in Strategy C.
Lighting boundary
The (adjustable) property-line-based perimeter where light-trespass limits are evaluated in LPR.
Lighting zone LZ0–LZ4
MLO ambient-lighting context classes, from dark-sky preserve to dense urban core; set every numeric limit in LPR.
LPD, Lighting Power Density
Installed lighting watts per square foot/meter, capped by 90.1-2010's building-area or space-by-space tables; reductions below the allowance earn ID+C points directly.
Midlevel
The required third lighting state in Option 1: 30–70% of maximum output, excluding daylight contribution.
MLO, Model Lighting Ordinance
The IES/IDA model outdoor-lighting code whose User Guide defines LEED's lighting zones.
Nadir
Straight down from the luminaire (0°); glare limits apply from 45° to 90° off nadir.
Regularly occupied space
Enclosed area averaging more than one hour of continuous occupancy per person per day, the master denominator for EQ lighting/daylight calcs.
sDA, Spatial Daylight Autonomy sDA300/50%
Share of floor area achieving 300 lux from daylight alone for at least 50% of occupied hours annually; the point-driving metric in Daylight Option 1.
TMY, Typical Meteorological Year
Standardized hourly weather dataset required for annual daylight simulation.
UGR, Unified Glare Rating
CIE glare metric computed in lighting-design software; v4.1 accepts < 19 as the glare-control alternative.
Addenda / LEED Interpretation
USGBC's rolling corrections and precedent rulings that modify credit language without a version change, the reason live credit language beats any printed guide, including this one.
Where the ground truth lives, and what this wiki is (and isn't).
How citations work here
Claims across the wiki carry superscript markers, like this[1], pointing at the numbered list below. Clicking one brings you here with the source highlighted; your browser's back button returns you to the article. Where a number is flagged with a "verify" callout, check it against the live credit language [1] no matter what any secondary source says, this wiki included.
Reference list
USGBC, LEED credit library. The always-current credit language, per rating system and version, with addenda incorporated. usgbc.org/credits
USGBC, LEED v4 Reference Guide for Building Design and Construction (BD+C). Intent, requirements, calculation equations, rating-system variations, and documentation guidance per credit.
USGBC, LEED v4 Reference Guide for Interior Design and Construction (ID+C).
USGBC, LEED v4 Reference Guide for Building Operations and Maintenance (O+M).
USGBC, addenda database & LEED Interpretations. Rulings and corrections searchable by credit. usgbc.org/leedaddenda
USGBC, LEED v4.1 rating systems & credit-substitution guidance. The v4.1 credit language and the rules for substituting v4.1 credits on v4-registered projects. usgbc.org/leed/v41
USGBC, certification & registration deadlines. Registration close and certification-sunset dates for LEED v4/v4.1 (extended to June 30, 2027 / June 30, 2033 for commercial projects as of this writing). Published on usgbc.org.
USGBC, LEED v4 energy-performance update (2024). Raised the minimum/optimize energy thresholds toward v4.1 alignment and added source-energy and GHG metric options.
ANSI/ASHRAE/IES Standard 90.1-2010, Energy Standard for Buildings Except Low-Rise Residential Buildings (with errata). ashrae.org
ASHRAE, 50% Advanced Energy Design Guides, by building type. Free downloads from ashrae.org.
IES TM-15-11, Addendum A. Backlight-Uplight-Glare (BUG) luminaire ratings. ies.org
IES / IDA, Model Lighting Ordinance (MLO) User Guide. Lighting-zone definitions LZ0–LZ4. darksky.org
IES, The Lighting Handbook, 10th edition. Recommended illuminance levels and design guidance.
LEEDuser (BuildingGreen). The de-facto practitioner forum, with credit-by-credit discussion including GBCI staff responses; unofficial but heavily used. leeduser.buildinggreen.com
USGBC, Pilot Credit Library. Current pilot-credit availability and language, searchable from the credit library. usgbc.org/credits
Bureau of Indian Standards, IS 3646 (Part 1): 1992, Table 1. Recommended interior illumination levels; the basis of the India alternative compliance path.
Abu Dhabi, Estidama Pearl Rating System (PRS). Abu Dhabi's green-building framework, administered by the Department of Municipalities and Transport. A separate system from LEED that projects in the emirate may be required to meet.
Dubai, Al Sa'fat Dubai Green Building Evaluation System. Dubai Municipality's green-building rating system, successor to the earlier Green Building Regulations & Specifications.
LEED Online deserves separate mention: the registered project's own forms and calculators are the authoritative document set for that project, and outrank everything above wherever they differ.
Disclaimer
This wiki was compiled from USGBC-published credit language and reference-guide material, the referenced standards, and practitioner sources, and paraphrases rather than reproduces the official text. LEED is amended continuously; specific thresholds, especially energy-performance percentages, the Option 2 surface strategies, and signage luminance limits, should be verified against the live credit language for the project's registered version before they drive design, procurement, or a certification submittal. Where this wiki flags a number with a verify note, treat that as a hard instruction, not boilerplate. The official reference guides and LEED Online forms are the source of truth; this wiki is the map.
Archie Apa