Sustainability requirements for construction products in LEED certification
All LEED compliance questions answered at a glance.
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Versions of the LEED certification
LEED (short for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) is a certification used worldwide as a green building rating system. LEED is for all building types and all building phases (new construction, interior fit outs, operations and maintenance, and core and shell). Per building phase, a difference rating system should be chosen. For example, for new construction or major renovations, the LEED Building Design and Construction (BD+C) rating system should be chosen. This includes New Construction and Core & Shell plus applications for schools, retail, hospitality, data centers, warehouses & distribution centers, and healthcare. For fit-out projects, LEED has the Interior Design and Construction (ID + C) rating system, for Building Operations and Maintenance, the O+M rating system and many others.
As with other green building certification systems, LEED has the goal to create better buildings that reduce their contribution to global climate change, protect and restore water resources, promote sustainable and regenerative material cycles, enhance individual human health, protect and enhance biodiversity and ecosystem services, and finally, enhance community quality of life. From all LEED credits, 35% are related to climate change, 20% to human health, 15% to water resources, 10% to biodiversity, 10% to green economy and the final 5% to community and natural resources.
There are currently three versions of LEED which can be selected for the assessment of a building. These are Version 4, Version 4.1, and Version 5. Version 4 was implemented 12 years ago and introduced a more performance-based approach to the assessment, to allow for more measurable results and a more streamlined user experience. The criteria of materials & resources and water were expanded, and a more comprehensive approach was taken to assessing these two areas. Version 4.1 was released a few years later in 2019 and was an incremental update to the individual LEED rating systems. Here building standards such as energy efficiency, water conservation, site and material selection, day lighting and waste reduction came more into focus. Finally, Version 5.0 is a revamp of the system, with the goal of aligning the built environment with critical imperatives including decarbonization, ecosystem conservation and restoration, equity, health, and resilience. This version is currently being developed in a first pilot stage.
Currently, Version 4.1 for LEED BD + C: Core and Shell is on proca. Version 5 will be added once this Version is on the market.
Credit Categories of LEED certification concerning construction products
The following criteria set specific requirements for individual products and are therefore particularly important for construction product manufacturers. It is important to note that when it comes to the credit achievement calculation for LEED, products are valued differently, depending upon the credit type. Some are valued as 1 product, sometimes as 1.5 products and some as 2 products. This is due to the fact that in order to gain points, a certain number of products must meet the criteria.
“Materials and Resources” credit category
Within this credit category, there are various credits that are relevant on a product level. This includes “Environmental Product Declarations”, “Sourcing of Raw Materials”, and “Material Ingredients”.
Environmental Product Declarations
Within this credit, two options are available. Option 1 allows for the gathering of 1 point if at least 10 different permanently installed products sourced from at least three different manufacturers have either a product-specific type III EPD or an industry-wide type III EPD. If a product has a product-specific type EPD or an industry-wide EPD (i.e. with third-party verification) and if the product is manufactured within 100 miles of the project site, it is valued as 2 products. If it only has a product-specific EPD, then it is valued as 1.5 products and for an industry-wide EPD, as 1 product.
Option 2 looks at the reduction of the Global Warming Potential (GWP) of the product in comparison to other conventional products as well as impact categories other than GWP and allows for up to 1 more points (for a total of max. 2 points for the EPD credit). Depending on how much GWP reduction can be determined, then a product can be valued as up to 2 products.
Sourcing of Raw Materials
Within this credit up to 2 points can be gathered, as long as products from at least three different manufactures meet the responsible sourcing and extraction criteria for at lest 30%, by cost, of all permanently installed products. These criteria include options such as using bio-based materials, wood products that have been certified by FSC or USGBC-approved equivalents, if products have a certain recycled content, or if products are salvaged, refurbished or reused.
Materialbestandteile
Im Rahmen dieser Gutschrift können innerhalb von 2 Optionen maximal 2 Punkte gesammelt werden. Für Option 1 müssen mindestens 10 Produkte von drei verschiedenen Herstellern eingesetzt werden, die ein Chemikalieninventar der Produkte von mindestens 0,1% (1000 ppm) nachweisen. Dies kann beispielsweise durch ein Cradle-to-Cradle-Zertifikat, ein Declare-Label, Global Green TAG-Label o.ä. nachgewiesen werden.
Für Option 2 müssen mindestens 5 verbaute Produkte von 3 verschiedenen Herstellern ihr Chemikalieninventar nach standardisierten Methoden von mindestens 0,01 Gewichtsprozent (100 ppm) ebenfalls nachweisen . Hierzu zählen dieselben Zertifizierungen und Labels wie bei Option 1. Zusätzlich dürfen keine Stoffe der Zulassungsliste Anhang XIV, der Beschränkungsliste Anhang XVII und der SVHC-Kandidatenliste verwendet werden. Diese Abgleiche mit den REACH-Vorgaben müssen im Rahmen des Stoffinventars auf 100 ppm nachvollziehbar dokumentiert werden.
Credit category for the quality of the indoor environment
Within this credit category, there are in turn various credits that can be valued. However, only one is relevant for proca: “Low-Emitting Materials.”
Low-emission materials
Depending on how many product categories meet the requirements for reduced chemical pollutants in materials, up to three points can be awarded. The products are rated according to their product category. These are paints and coatings, adhesives and sealants, floor coverings, wall panels, ceilings, insulation, furniture, and composite wood. The requirements vary slightly depending on the category, but largely revolve around the topics of VOC and formaldehyde emissions and/or content. Sources that naturally produce no VOC emissions, such as stone, ceramic, glass, etc. automatically receive full marks.
In EPEA's Proca statements, the LEED rating in percent is presented as a “contribution to the criterion.” For example, if up to 2 points can be awarded for the item “Material components”, the result would be x% of 200 (200 out of 200 divided by full points).
Other LEED certification criteria
In addition to the criteria mentioned above, there are also a number of criteria on which construction products have an indirect influence. However, proca does not cover these criteria. However, some of these criteria may also be incorporated into proca's LEED evaluation in the future.
Reducing indoor water consumption
This criterion is used to determine how efficiently commercial valves and appliances handle water. The goal is to reduce total water consumption by 20% based on a specific baseline value.
refrigerant management
This criterion aims to eliminate ozone depletion and global warming potential by promoting the complete removal of coolants from buildings or the use of coolants that have an ozone depletion potential (ODP) of zero and a global warming potential (GWP) of less than 50.
Reducing impacts over the entire life cycle of buildings
Within the framework of this criterion, buildings must demonstrate lower environmental impacts from the very first project decision by reusing existing building resources or demonstrating a reduction in material consumption through a life cycle analysis.
