BuildingEnergy's LEED 'Debate': "Least informative forum yet"

I wasn't able to attend last week's BuildingEnergy conference, sadly. Most particularly, I wasn't able to get to Tuesday night's public forum, "What's Right and What's Wrong With LEED," featuring panelists Henry Gifford, USGBC's LEED Technical VP Brendan Owens, Steven Winter Associates' Maureen Mahle, IBACOS' Duncan Prahl, and energy modeler Maria Karpman of Karpman Consulting. It was moderated by Nadav Malin. (Why was I so hot for that presentation? For a refresher, see Lies, Damn Lies, and... Another Look at LEED Energy Efficiency, and the terrific comments that follow it.) At least we can all hear about the forum second-hand. The Boston Globe's green blog — which they call "The Green Blog" — posted How best to determine a green building? with the opening line, "A rant or a mugging?" (That piece is an edited version of the one on Michael Prager's blog.) Read either or both of those to get to the "Least informative forum yet" reference. More goodies: Fred Unger's thoughts at NESEA's blog, and Sitephocus weighs in on the controversy. There's another blow-by-blow at Green Real Estate Law Journal, but the reporting is based on Michael Prager's piece; however, the final three paragraphs pull some threads together in a way that's well worth a look.