to make design choices to gain a LEED point, even though this choice is not optimal for the specific project. Additionally, LEED is not energy-specific; it only measures overall performance, allowing builders to choose how to achieve points under various categories. A USA Today review showed that 7,100 certified commercial building projects targeted cheap and easy green points, such as creating healthy spaces and providing educational displays in the building. Few builders adopted renewable energy because of the initial cost. Builders game the rating system and use certain performances to compensate for the others, and energy conservation becomes the weakest part in the overall evaluation. LEED has been developed and continuously modified by workers in the green building industry, especially in the ten largest metro areas in the U.S.; however, LEED certified buildings have been slower to penetrate small and middle markets. There has been criticism that the LEED rating system is not sensitive and does not vary enough with regard to local environmental conditions. For instance, a building in Maine would receive the same credit as a building in Arizona for water conservation, though the principle is more important in the latter case. Another complaint is that certification costs could be better used to make the project more sustainable. Many critics have noted that compliance and certification costs have grown faster than staff support from the USGBC. For existing buildings, LEED has developed LEED-EB. Research has demonstrated that buildings that can achieve LEED-EB equivalencies can generate a tremendous return-on-investment. In a 2008 white paper by the Leonardo Academy comparing LEED-EB buildings vs. data from BOMA's Experience Exchange Report 2007 demonstrated LEED-EB certified buildings achieved superior operating-cost savings in 63% of the buildings surveyed ranging from $4.94 to $15.59 per square foot of floor space. The overall cost of LEED-EB implementation and certification ranged from $0.00 to $6.46 per square foot of floor space, demonstrating that implementation is not expensive, especially in comparison to cost savings. Incentive programs Many federal, state, and local governments and school districts have adopted various types of LEED initiatives and incentives. Many local governments have adopted LEED incentive programs, which can include tax credits, tax breaks, density zoning bonuses, reduced fees, priority or expedited permitting, free or reduced-cost technical assistance, grants and low-interest loans. Cincinnati, Ohio, adopted a measure providing an automatic 100% real property tax exemption of the assessed property value for newly constructed