The Green Building Certification Institute (GBCI) has launched the CMP Wizard, an interactive online tool to help LEED Professionals understand their Credential Maintenance Program (CMP) requirements and explore continuing education options.

The maintenance requirements for the LEED AP and LEED Green Associate credentials ensure that credential holders stay current with the quickly evolving body of knowledge around green building. Credential maintenance also enables professionals to grow their skills and show clients and employers that their expertise is meaningful in a rapidly transforming marketplace. The CMP Wizard helps LEED credential holders select from among the wide variety of options they have for earning credential maintenance credit.

“We created the CMP Wizard to answer questions from current LEED APs with the goal of making the GBCI credential maintenance process clear and easier to understand,” said Peter Templeton, President, Green Building Certification Institute. “The CMP Wizard navigates directly to the key requirements each credential holder needs to know.”

GBCI’s credential maintenance program is unique among other continuing education programs in that it offers eight flexible options for earning hours that range from working on LEED projects to reading case studies to taking professional development courses. LEED Professionals can often earn hours while performing activities they are already doing for their jobs.

LEED APs looking to take advantage of the limited-time opportunity to enroll into the specialty credential will find relevant information on prescriptive CMP requirements and testing options in the CMP Wizard. The enrollment windows for LEED APs without specialty close this year beginning in August.

Maintaining LEED Professional Credentials is especially relevant in today’s economic climate. The practice of green building is currently in high demand, with more than one million square feet of construction space certifying to the LEED rating system every day. Earlier this month, President Obama introduced the Better Buildings Initiative, which provides incentives for green building. Green building demand is expected to rise greatly as building owners take advantage of the momentum afforded by the President’s new policy, which catalyzes private-sector investment through a series of incentives to upgrade offices, stores, schools and universities, hospitals and other commercial and municipal buildings.

“Green building is a critical element to a jobs creation program,” added Templeton. “Professionals who are knowledgeable about green building and the LEED process are today, more than ever, being sought after by employers, clients and project teams.”

For more information about the CMP Wizard, visit www.gbci.org/cmp-wizard.