Over 150 Pilot Projects participated in the SITES two-year Pilot Program (June 2010-June 2012). These projects represented a diverse cross-section of project types, sizes and geographic locations in various stages of development from design to construction and maintenance. SITES Pilot Projects are the first projects in the United States and abroad to demonstrate the application of The Sustainable Sites Initiative: Guidelines and Performance Benchmarks 2009, released on November 5, 2009. The Guidelines and Performance Benchmarks 2009 includes a four-star rating system that works on a 250-point scale. Based on achieving all 15 of the prerequisites and at least 100 credit points, a pilot project becomes Certified.
| One Star (minimum points 40%): | 100 |
| Two Stars (minimum points 50%): | 125 |
| Three Stars (minimum points 60%): | 150 |
| Four Stars (minimum points 80%): | 200 |
Feedback from the Pilot Program is being used to revise the final rating system and inform the technical reference manual, SITES v2. This guide will provide real world examples of achieving sustainability goals and document the practices pilot projects used in solving site problems, slated for release in 2013.
Below is a summary of the projects that participatied in the pilot program.