At Living Futures Committee’s November 2025 meeting, we were privileged to have Ava Calvano present the basics of International Living Futures Institute’s (ILFI) Living Building Challenge. Ava is the Institute’s Education Manager.
The main theme of the Living Building Challenge is to go beyond minimizing the negative impacts of the built environment; it strives to create positive impacts. After reviewing this main theme, Ava discussed the several “petals” of the challenge. These petals include energy, water, materials, beauty, equity, and health and happiness. ILFI publishes a Program Manual, Version LBC 4.1, updated September 9, 2025 at the following site:
ILFI recognizes that the built environment is responsible for 36% of global energy consumption. The Institute’s Zero Energy Certification™ is a standard that meets the built environment energy needs with renewable resources and without fossil fuel consumption. This Standard is located:
ILFI addresses the combined effects of operational and embodied carbon in their Zero Carbon Certification. This Standard is located:
The following global map shows the 5,000,000+ square feet of building area certified or seeking certification for some or all petals of the Living Building Challenge:
USGBC-California's Living Futures Committee’s goal in 2026 is to provide more detailed information on the Living Building Challenge, and its intersection with LEED.