This credit offers several different compliance paths to choose from, making it a very achievable credit for most projects. It’s common for teams to pursue the reflective materials option for roof and/or hardscape. Providing parking undercover is another popular option that’s highly achievable for projects that include a parking garage.
Teams also have the option to retain existing shade trees and plant new trees to shade paved areas onsite. Vegetated roofs contribute to this credit as well.
Note that a new interpretation allows projects that provide NO parking at all to achieve one point under this credit.
Standard solar reflectance (SR) values for concrete
As in LEED 2009, you can use standard SR values for some materials (see the table on this page, with values from LEED Interpretation #10411).
Watch out—typical gray cement concrete no longer meets the credit requirement by itself, as its typical SR default value is 0.26, less than the credit threshold of 0.33 at installation. If you are using gray concrete and hope for it to comply with a higher SR/SRI, you will need to test it. Most projects should not need to have their concrete tested if they’re also using other compliant nonroof and roof materials, since the weighted sum of nonroof and roof measures is often greater than or equal to the sum of project paving and roof area. Projects using large amounts of individual materials that don’t meet the minimum SRI levels will benefit from early design calculations to see if the weighted total will comply.
What’s New in LEED v4
- This credit combines the roof and nonroof heat island credits contained in LEED 2009.
- USGBC now determines credit compliance for nonroof hardscape using SR values instead of SRI values.
- High-reflectance and vegetated roof surfaces now have equal weight in performance calculations.
- USGBC now calculates the shade area from tree canopy after 10 years of landscape installation rather than five years.
- LEED increased the initial SRI thresholds for roofing material.
- LEED now factors in the three-year aged SRI values for roofing material for this credit.
