Judas
I studied and completed LEED courses, but decided to not pursue with the testing to become a LEED AP. The reason is I did not believe in adding as much as 5-8% to the project cost JUST to get LEED accreditation. I have designed a LEED Gold building and working on a Silver. For a home owner, I would highly recommend not pursing it. LEED accreditation does not make your building any better. It simply shows you were willing to pay for the much higher upfront costs for green construction methods, conditioning and water, site, interior air quality, etc, as well as the high cost of actually getting it accredited. What does this rating do for you? Nothing. Most clients we work with want it purely for advertising reasons. When there is a green movement, if you can advertise your facility being a LEED Silver, gold, whatever, it makes people think you really care about the environment and possibly grow a warm fuzzy spot in customer's hearts.
However you do not need to be LEED, to be....leed. Practice good design, and not worry about the points. Many leed requirements are silly. They add costs and things to your building that you may not normally have or need, simply to accumulate points. You see 0 spent on LEED accreditation back to you. However you see return on the items you install to achieve leed. Keep that in mind.
MANY clients come to use asking the very same question. LEED is a buzz word, just as GREEN is. Its sad, in my professional opinion, how big companies such as Walmart use Green and shove it down people's throat. "we are green because we offer recycled bags". BS. Show my net zero buildings and next to 0 carbon footprints, site restorations and then I will believe you. I explain to them the process, the 3rd party reviews and the costs involved. Then I show them the costs of the building alone, which is higher than most due to the extra things added. At the end of the day, we "design to meet LEED", but dont purse it. THe client is left with a leed functioning building, and keep more $ in their pockets.
For a home owner, look at the big picture. Put things into your design that help you and have pay offs within 20 years or less. Some items just cost so much you will never see that money back, plus add the price of accreditation.
Dollar for dollar put into your house, insulation and attention to the shell detail will be the cheapest areas to save the most money in the future with fastest returns. ICF is a great system, however its a budget system. You can do cheaper and gain higher R in other ways.
so to answer your question.....0.