Of all the things I have wasted a lot of time on, I feel quite fortunate to have avoided that particular hoax.  

I have  a different view :

I think LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is one of the most important trends of development and is revolutionizing the construction industry. It has gained tremendous momentum and has a profound impact on our environment.

In fact, NCARB has quietly incorporated a lot of LEED content into EACH of the ARE division without using the term LEED. Just read the scope of exam for each ARE division, and you'll know.

Gang Chen, Author, AIA, LEED AP BD+C

Gang, I think you need more acronyms behind your name. May I suggest PE, and AICP...

LEED certification is based on design, not performance. Geothermal is snake oil for the environtment movement: low-performance, high cost, high maintenance and high energy use. Unless of course you have volcanic hot springs on site.

Like anything else, there are pros and cons for LEED.  You do not have to seek LEED certification for every project, but there is a lot of useful info that you can earn from LEED and use for your project:
Heat island effect, open-grid payment, water conservation, openable windows, daylighting...

Gang Chen, Author, AIA, LEED AP BD+C

LEED is a marketing tool above all else. If LEED certified projects were to produce yearly energy use numbers to maintain certification (say... X% lower energy usage than comparable local buildings for example), then I may get on-board with the program.

Other than that... green washing with generally little substance.

I think LEED is moving toward that direction, and LEED O+M already requires that.

Gang Chen, Author, AIA, LEED AP BD+C

CalGreen is a direct descendant of LEED silver rating system.

Gang Chen, Author, AIA, LEED AP BD+C

A few threads ago someone affiliated with LEEDS was hawking the program to unemployed architects as a means of increasing their employability. Totally unethical. The program seems to have had its fifteen minutes of fame. Can we let it die quietly?

Volunteer, LEED will unfortunately not die. It is the only way to dumb down environmentally sensible design.  It is just unfortunate that it is a simple formula too generic and too easy to  manipulate to make any difference.

too many LEED proponents are blind to their own green thumbs to see this dead horse's beatings.

leed could lose a lot momentum with green globe.  they still give you a checklist and a rating, which is half of leed.  the government now accepts green globe ratings too, which is the other half.

leed has a lot of procedural shortcomings, such as the tech support guy that said their website works best with 32 bit windows xp and internet explorer 8.  maybe that will all be fixed with leed online 4, but if the same lack of foresight and basic cluelessness is still there, leed doesn't have a future.

they also need to address project specific gray areas.  a lot of projects don't fit the cookie-cutter sort of outline they expect.  there needs to be some predictable way to apply the 'spirit' of leed without just throwing them a bunch of money and hoping the guy that happens to be in that cubicle on that day agrees with you.