Tommy TafazzoliRESEARCHER · EDUCATOR · ENGINEER
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RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT · 2026

Where LEED Projects Underperform Their Priorities

The analysis helps project teams direct resources toward consequential categories that are not yet performing to their importance.

Sustainability & resilienceImportance-performance analysisConference paper

The question

LEED assigns different weights to credit categories, but market achievement may not match those priorities. This study asked where certified projects concentrate effort and where important categories remain underperformed.

What we did

Importance-performance analysis was applied to 1,344 LEED v4 New Construction projects. Category weights were compared with achieved performance, and mean- and median-based thresholds were tested to assess the stability of the quadrant assignments.

What we found

  • Location and Transportation, Energy and Atmosphere, and Indoor Environmental Quality fell in the high-importance, below-average-performance quadrant.
  • Innovation and Regional Priority achieved above-average performance despite lower assigned importance.
  • Energy, Water, and Materials changed quadrants under the median-based robustness test.

Why it matters

The analysis helps project teams direct resources toward consequential categories that are not yet performing to their importance. It also shows why strategy should consider the sensitivity of the diagnostic threshold. Read together, the question, method, and findings show how this publication fits within Tafazzoli’s broader program of connecting built-environment evidence with practical decisions. The page intentionally separates documented results from interpretation and directs readers to the complete paper for methodological detail. The study also illustrates a recurring principle across this research portfolio: a useful result must be understood in its original setting before it is transferred to another project, organization, population, or policy context.

Diagram summarizing Where LEED Projects Underperform Their Priorities

LEED importance-performance priorities. This original synthesis graphic is based on the study’s documented question, method, or principal contribution; consult the paper for complete figures, labels, units, and uncertainty.

Original website synthesis based on the cited publication.

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READ THE PAPER

Strategic alignment in green building certification: An importance-performance analysis of LEED v4 new construction projects

Published · 2026 · Conference paper

Goodarzi, M., Breakah, T., Tafazzoli, M., Garshasby, M., & Metwally, M. (2026). Strategic alignment in green building certification: An importance-performance analysis of LEED v4 new construction projects. Proceedings of Associated Schools of Construction 62nd Annual International Conference (Vol. 7, pp. 475–484). EasyChair. https://doi.org/10.29007/3mct

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DOI: 10.29007/3mct

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