Recycle & Reduce – Minus The Paperwork, LEED's Goals Often Reflected At The Local Level
By Scott Kriner, Green Metal Consulting
My church has embarked on a “greening” program to be better stewards of our resources. Similar to other types of building owners, our congregation recognizes how important energy conservation and efficiency measures can be to a church. As such, we have replaced all T-12 fluorescent bulbs with more energy efficient lighting systems. Adding occupancy sensors to restrooms, offices and classrooms was another aspect of our overall plan. The heating and cooling systems and procedures have also been reviewed for ways optimize thermal comfort more efficiently. Just reminding members about opening windows for ventilation and cooling has made a difference as an alternative to air conditioning.
During the year of 2011 the church has focused on recycling. We learned that electronic waste (commonly referred to as e-waste) was a major problem in our society’s love affair with gadgets. To help with this problem we worked with a local recycler to hold two electronic recycling events. As a result we diverted hundreds of electronic items, appliances, computers, and televisions from going to the landfill. Within the church a formal program is being developed for recycling cans, bottles, glass, plastic, cardboard, inkjet cartridges, cell phones, batteries, and food waste (composting). The result is a transformation of how people think when confronted with recycling, reducing, and re-using items. In essence, we are getting our members to re-think old habits.
Our building construction industry is also being challenged to re-think how we design, construct and operate buildings. This transformation was set in motion in 2000 when USGBC introduced their first LEED green building rating program. Today all eyes are on the USGBC as they are developing the LEED 2012 program. The complexity of this new version is such that USGBC is taking much more time to create the next version of the green building rating system. In fact, it is expected that the ballot vote on the final draft may not take place until August 2012.
The second draft of LEED 2012 (having just gone through the second public comment period) contains new Credits, new Categories, a new weighting assessment, and MANY changes from previous versions of LEED. LEED is also looking differently at the Materials and Resources Credit category, with regard to recycling and other environmental issues related to the choice, transport and the disposal of materials and chemicals in a building project. The proposed changes in the MR Category have been described as an effort to consider multiple attribute materials rather than simply establishing minimum criteria for a given type of material. The traditional credits for Recycled Content, Regional Materials and Material Reuse have been eliminated. In their place, an overarching emphasis on Life Cycle Assessment is featured in the latest draft.
The Regional Materials criteria of building materials coming from within a 500 mile radius has been replaced with a more sophisticated analysis of a “ Core Based Statistical Area” for a given project location. A new prerequisite is proposed that would use more than 50% recycled, local, OR bio-based materials. This is just one of many examples of how complex and technical the new version of LEED may become. Another new Credit in the MR section refers to Environmentally Preferable Structural products. This credit is unofficially being referred to as the EPD credit, (referring to Environmental Product Declarations) which is again tied to Life Cycle Assessment information gathered independently.
The path forward for LEED is clearly getting more technical, sophisticated, and more focused on the greater environmental impacts of products and building assemblies. As usual, LEED will also raise the bar for achieving points, staying ahead of simple code compliance. As the green codes become more stringent, LEED maintains its position in the higher levels of achievement. With the second public comment period now closed, we wait to see how USGBC will address the comments submitted by their membership.
It is interesting that our local church shares the vision with LEED on emphasizing recycling, re-using and certainly re-thinking. Where we seem to differ, though is in the area of reducing – at least in terms of the complexity of our programs!
Scott Kriner is the president and founder of Green Metal Consulting Inc. He is a LEED Accredited Professional who began his career in the metal construction industry in 1981. His company is a member of the U.S. Green Building Council, the California Association of Building Energy Consultants and the Residential Energy Services Network (RESNET). Scott can be reached by email at skriner1@verizon.net or by phone at (610) 966-2430. You can also visit him on the web at www.greenmetalconsulting.com.
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