LEED Materials & Resources Presentation

Overview

• Focus on reducing global climate change impact through sustainable building practices.
• Emphasizes enhancing human health, biodiversity, and sustainable material cycles.

LEED System Goals

• Enhance individual human health.
• Protect water resources.
• Promote sustainable materials.
• Enhance community quality of life.
• Build a green economy.

Materials and Resources (MR) Credits (13 possible)

Prerequisites

• Storage and Collection of Recyclables: Required to manage waste effectively and conserve resources.
• Construction and Demolition Waste Management Planning: Required to minimize landfill burden.

Credits

• Building Life-Cycle Impact Reduction (5 pts): Encourages adaptive reuse and optimization of environmental product performance.
• Building Product Disclosure and Optimization - Environmental Product Declarations (2 pts): Promotes the use of products with verified life-cycle impacts.
• Sourcing of Raw Materials (2 pts): Encourages the use of responsibly sourced materials.
• Material Ingredients (2 pts): Incentivizes the use of products with known, less harmful chemical ingredients.

Building Life-Cycle Impact Reduction

• Encourages reuse and optimization.
• Use of Life Cycle Analysis (LCA) to measure impact.
• Demonstrate reduction in global warming potential and other environmental impacts.

Environmental Product Declarations (EPD)

• Intent: Encourage use of products with available life-cycle information.
• Certification systems include OEKO-TEX, RDS, and GREENGUARD.
• Discusses cradle to cradle vs cradle to grave approaches.

Responsible Sourcing of Raw Materials

• Points awarded for using certified bio-based and recycled materials.
• Pre-consumer and post-consumer recycled content definitions provided.

Material Ingredients

• Intent: Use products with lifecycle transparency and minimal harmful substances.
• Options for credit include ingredient reporting and supply chain optimization.
• Avoidance of harmful chemicals like PFAS.

Construction and Demolition Waste Management

• Intent: Reduce landfill waste and promote recycling.
• Credits available for diverting a significant percentage of waste and reducing total waste volume.

Regional Priority Credits

• Encourages addressing local environmental and health priorities.
• Credits depend on achieving region-specific criteria.

Sustainable Purchasing and Building Practices

• Emphasize reducing, reusing, recycling, and sustainable sourcing.
• Highlights sustainable building options and practices such as rammed earth and straw bale construction.

Sustainable Leather

• Focus on reducing toxic chemicals in leather processing.
• Encourages sourcing from sustainable farms and reducing environmental harm.

Strategies for Waste Management

• Implement recycling plans and audits.
• Composting and sustainable purchasing policies are essential.

Additional Resources and Links

• Includes links to sustainable building videos and resources for further learning.