In what way? Too easy, too expensive?
I deal mostly with division 2 and it does a good job of promoting less irrigation and less stormwater pollution. The problem we (civil engineers) run into is that the state codes are so prescriptive that we don't have much room for innovative solutions.
First, 95% of any US sourced lumber is coming from a mill recognized by the National Hardwood Lumber Association (NHLA) and they all require each producer to maintain a certain level of reforestation with most already exceeding the requirement for business' sake. Just because it's certified by the Forestry Stewardship Council (FSC Cert) doesn't mean that they are doing anything differently, just paying a yearly fee to maintain their CofC certificates. On a side note, if the shop supplying the products are not FSC members, then the product supplied isn't, even if it came from the proper source.
Secondly, the majority of your engineered products, Corian, Zodiaq, 3-Form, Lumicor all have SOME recycled content, but even so, the processes that are used to fabricate them are typically more harmful than not. Not to mention the 'recycled' parts are the scraps from the fabrication process for their non-LEED products. They are charging more to use the stuff they would throw away anyhow. Genius.
Thirdly, due to our location, we rarely receive any of the credits for locally sourced products. The majority of your countertop materials and laminates come from New York & Canada. The majority of hardwoods comes from the midwest. And you're acrylic products come from either Washington or Cincinnati. I've never been able to claim that credit in all of the jobs I've done.
Nutshell Version: It costs us more to maintain a certification that we don't need; to use 'recycled' products that really aren't; shipped to us from places that aren't close enough to matter; to install for a project that probably won't even properly check to begin with. LEED projects are supposed to be verified by a third party.
