The US Green Building Council, or USGBC, is a Washington, D.C.-based group dedicated to the development of cost-efficient, energy-saving green buildings. Despite the official-sounding name, the USGBC is not a government agency -- it's a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.

The USGBC is best known for their Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, or LEED, certification process, which lists green buildings as LEED-certified if they meet certain energy-saving and sustainability criteria.

The USGBC has over 70 affiliates and a host of member companies and organizations. The group's mission, according to their website, is "to transform the way buildings and communities are designed, built and operated, enabling an environmentally and socially responsible, healthy, and prosperous environment that improves the quality of life."

The USGBC: LEED-ing the Way?

But the USGBC is not without its critics: some claim the LEED program is really a multimillion-dollar source of revenue for the USGBC and a marketing ploy for developers. Many LEED-certified buildings are not really energy-conserving or green buildings -- some, in fact, are downright brown and use huge amounts of energy.

The USGBC is, however, continuing to improve the LEED program and has corrected many of its past mistakes; newer LEED-certified buildings have many more green features and are much more energy- and resource-conserving.