In addition to clarifying the LEED 25% guideline, Rob Watson also had some interesting points regarding regulations that required LEED certification.* 

First, Watson made a great point about governments requiring municipal projects to achieve LEED certification:  "As far as municipalities requiring their own buildings to go LEED, that’s an owner decision and no problem.  Municipally-funded projects are in a similar vein."  I wholly agree with Watson. 

I still remain concerned about private development LEED mandates.  Watson indicated he also has similar concerns:  "It gets a bit dicey when talking about broader mandates because we designed LEED as a market-leading standard and there is concern about the market’s ability to respond on a very broad level.  As penetration of green accelerates, I believe this will become less of a problem."

What do you think?  Can LEED mandates for private projects work?

*To be clear, Watson was speaking to me as the CEO of The EcoTech International Group.  He was not speaking on behalf of the USGBC.