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LEED v2009
Existing Building Operations
Sustainable Sites

Building Exterior and Hardscape Management Plan

LEED CREDIT

EBOM-2009 SSc2: Building Exterior and Hardscape Management Plan 1 point

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Credit achievement rate

XX%

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LEEDuser expert

Ashwini Arun

WSP
Senior Sustainability Manager

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Credit language

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© Copyright U.S. Green Building Council, Inc. All rights reserved.

Requirements

Employ an environmentally sensitive, low-impact building exterior and hardscape management plan that helps preserve surrounding ecological integrity. The plan must employ best management practices that significantly reduce harmful chemical use, energy waste, water waste, air pollution, solid waste and/or chemical runoff (e.g., gasoline, oil, antifreeze, salts) compared with standard practices. The plan must address all of the following operational elements that occur on the building and grounds:

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Cost estimates for this credit

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Frequently asked questions

Our vendor brings some maintenance equipment to the site to perform work. Do we need to include this in our equipment inventory and performance metrics?

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Is it okay to use dish soap to clean exterior windows if the product is Environmental Choice CCD 146 certified?

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The performance metric for maintenance equipment is confusing. What do we need to track to show credit compliance?

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We don’t have 100% adoption of environmentally preferred deicers. What performance metric should we use to show we meet the 20% compliance threshold?

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We don’t have 100% adoption of environmentally preferred paint/sealants. What performance metric should we use to show we meet the 20% compliance threshold?

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See all forum discussions about this credit »

Addenda

4/1/2012
LEED Interpretation
Inquiry:

Clarify which deicers or deicer blends should be used and if there is an alternative approach to meeting the credit requirements.

Ruling:

***Updated on 1/1/2015 to clarify and simplify the deicer requirements.

Projects may use one of the following compliance paths to achieve the deicer portion of the snow and ice removal requirements for SS Credit 2: Building Exterior and Hardscape Management Plan.

1. Use only deicers that contain 100% calcium magnesium acetate.

OR

2. Demonstrate that environmentally-preferred deicers were used at least 20% of the time during the performance period, measured by weight, volume, or cost (environmentally-preferred deicers contain less than 5% sodium chloride, calcium chloride, magnesium chloride, potassium chloride, potassium acetate, ammonia-based products, and ferrocyanide products). Implement a deicer quality assurance monitoring plan during the performance period to track ongoing deicer use and record its effects for every snow event (monitoring could include: if deicer was applied prior to snow events, if areas were shoveled prior to deicer application, the amount of snow over the season, the temperature when deicer was applied, the time for snow to melt, etc). It should also include a plan to phase out all deicers that are not environmentally-preferred within 3 years.

--------
***Updated 1/1/2013 to: (1) remove the alternative weighted average approach; (2) add guidance on the baseline for the 50% reduction of application area; (3) clarify the use of CMA and CMA blends; (4) clarify the percentage of NaCl and CaCl; and (5) expand upon sound snow and ice best management practices.

Projects may use the following compliance paths to achieve the deicer portion of snow and ice removal requirements for SS Credit 2: Building Exterior and Hardscape Management Plan.

1. Demonstrate that the total application area has been reduced by 50%. Hardscape areas like parking lots, sidewalks, pedestrian travel areas and circulation routes should be considered and cannot be included for the application area reduction.

OR

1. Use a Calcium Magnesium Acetate (CMA) deicer, or a mix that contains a minimum of 30% CMA. If that is not possible, explain the circumstances and use deicer products that contain no greater than 5% of Sodium Chloride (NaCl) or Calcium Chloride (CaCl) in their applied state.

AND

2. Identify the salt-sensitive areas on the site and apply 4 of the following 8 principles of sound snow and ice best management practices:
- For manually applied deicing products, use calibrated spreaders to apply products as recommended by the manufacturer’s label instructions.
- Identify snow piling locations on the site and push snow into those areas to mini-mize sheet runoff and refreezing problems.
- All salt spreading vehicles should be equipped with electronic spreader controls. These instruments allow the operator to control both the amount and location of the salt spread.
- When appropriate, install infrared thermometers in the vehicles to provide fast, accurate pavement and air temperatures.
- Use pre-wetted salt whenever possible, as an alternative to dry salt.
- Keep records of salt use and its effect for each and every snow event. Trial and error is one effective way to learn optimum salt usage.
- Seek out and use weather forecasting and tracking information for your local re-gion, paying particular attention to pavement temperature.
- Keep up to date on alternative chemicals and blends (such as calcium magnesium acetate) that are environmental friendly by attending professional conferences and workshops and by sharing information with other professionals.

--------
4/1/2012
The current snow and ice removal requirements for SS Credit 2: Building Exterior and Hardscape Management Plan allow for a weighted average approach to document achievement. However, as an alternative, projects may use the following compliance path to achieve the deicer portion of the requirements:

Demonstrate that the total application area has been reduced by 50%.

AND

Identify the salt-sensitive areas on the site and apply 4 of the following 6 principles of sound snow and ice best management practices:
- All salt spreading vehicles should be equipped with electronic spreader controls. These instruments allow the operator to control both the amount and location of the salt spread.
- When appropriate, install infrared thermometers in the vehicles to provide fast, accurate pavement and air temperatures.
- Use pre-wetted salt whenever possible, as an alternative to dry salt.
- Keep records of salt use and its effect for each and every snow event. Trial and error is one effective way to learn optimum salt usage.
- Seek out and use weather forecasting and tracking information for your local region, paying particular attention to pavement temperature.
- Keep up to date on alternative chemicals and blends (such as calcium magnesium acetate) that are environmental friendly by attending professional conferences and workshops and by sharing information with other professionals.

Campus Applicable
No
Internationally Applicable:
Yes
4/1/2012
LEED Interpretation
Inquiry:

Can propane-powered equipment be an approach to help achieve credit compliance?

Ruling:

As part of this credit, the project is to employ a building exterior and hardscape management plan that uses best management practices to reduce air pollution and chemical runoff compared with standard practices.Propane-powered equipment, in place of all gasoline-powered equipment, is an acceptable site management strategy to demonstrate compliance for this part of the credit. Propane conversion for 2 cycle equipment, and 24 inch or smaller push mowers, is not currently available and therefore is not required at this time.

Campus Applicable
No
Internationally Applicable:
No
See all forum discussions about this credit »

Checklists

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See all forum discussions about this credit »

Documentation toolkit

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LEEDuser’s Documentation Toolkit is loaded with calculators to help assess credit compliance, tracking spreadsheets for materials, sample templates to help guide your narratives and LEED Online submissions, and examples of actual submissions from certified LEED projects for you to check your work against. To get your plaque, start with the right toolkit.

Credit achievement rate

XX%

Upgrade to LEEDuser Premium to see how many projects achieved this credit. Try it free »

LEEDuser expert

Ashwini Arun

WSP
Senior Sustainability Manager

Get the inside scoop

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USGBC logo

© Copyright U.S. Green Building Council, Inc. All rights reserved.

Requirements

Employ an environmentally sensitive, low-impact building exterior and hardscape management plan that helps preserve surrounding ecological integrity. The plan must employ best management practices that significantly reduce harmful chemical use, energy waste, water waste, air pollution, solid waste and/or chemical runoff (e.g., gasoline, oil, antifreeze, salts) compared with standard practices. The plan must address all of the following operational elements that occur on the building and grounds:

XX%

Upgrade to LEEDuser Premium to see how many projects achieved this credit. Try it free »

Got the gist of SSc2 but not sure how to actually achieve it? LEEDuser gives step-by-step help. Premium members get:

  • Checklists covering all the key action steps you'll need to earn the credit.
  • Hot tips to give you shortcuts and avoid pitfalls.
  • Cost tips to assess what a credit will actually cost, and how to make it affordable.
  • Ideas for going beyond LEED with best practices.
  • All checklists organized by project phase.
  • On-the-fly suggestions of useful items from the Documentation Toolkit and Credit Language.

In the end, LEED is all about documentation. LEEDuser’s Documentation Toolkit, for premium members only, saves you time and helps you avoid mistakes with:

  • Calculators to help assess credit compliance.
  • Tracking spreadsheets for materials purchases.
  • Spreadsheets and forms to give to subs and other team members.
  • Guidance documents on arcane LEED issues.
  • Sample templates to help guide your narratives and LEED Online submissions.
  • Examples of actual submissions from certified LEED projects.

Our vendor brings some maintenance equipment to the site to perform work. Do we need to include this in our equipment inventory and performance metrics?

The answer to this question is available to LEEDuser premium members. Start a free trial »

(If you're already a premium member, log in here.)

Is it okay to use dish soap to clean exterior windows if the product is Environmental Choice CCD 146 certified?

The answer to this question is available to LEEDuser premium members. Start a free trial »

(If you're already a premium member, log in here.)

The performance metric for maintenance equipment is confusing. What do we need to track to show credit compliance?

The answer to this question is available to LEEDuser premium members. Start a free trial »

(If you're already a premium member, log in here.)

We don’t have 100% adoption of environmentally preferred deicers. What performance metric should we use to show we meet the 20% compliance threshold?

The answer to this question is available to LEEDuser premium members. Start a free trial »

(If you're already a premium member, log in here.)

We don’t have 100% adoption of environmentally preferred paint/sealants. What performance metric should we use to show we meet the 20% compliance threshold?

The answer to this question is available to LEEDuser premium members. Start a free trial »

(If you're already a premium member, log in here.)

4/1/2012
LEED Interpretation
Inquiry:

Clarify which deicers or deicer blends should be used and if there is an alternative approach to meeting the credit requirements.

Ruling:

***Updated on 1/1/2015 to clarify and simplify the deicer requirements.

Projects may use one of the following compliance paths to achieve the deicer portion of the snow and ice removal requirements for SS Credit 2: Building Exterior and Hardscape Management Plan.

1. Use only deicers that contain 100% calcium magnesium acetate.

OR

2. Demonstrate that environmentally-preferred deicers were used at least 20% of the time during the performance period, measured by weight, volume, or cost (environmentally-preferred deicers contain less than 5% sodium chloride, calcium chloride, magnesium chloride, potassium chloride, potassium acetate, ammonia-based products, and ferrocyanide products). Implement a deicer quality assurance monitoring plan during the performance period to track ongoing deicer use and record its effects for every snow event (monitoring could include: if deicer was applied prior to snow events, if areas were shoveled prior to deicer application, the amount of snow over the season, the temperature when deicer was applied, the time for snow to melt, etc). It should also include a plan to phase out all deicers that are not environmentally-preferred within 3 years.

--------
***Updated 1/1/2013 to: (1) remove the alternative weighted average approach; (2) add guidance on the baseline for the 50% reduction of application area; (3) clarify the use of CMA and CMA blends; (4) clarify the percentage of NaCl and CaCl; and (5) expand upon sound snow and ice best management practices.

Projects may use the following compliance paths to achieve the deicer portion of snow and ice removal requirements for SS Credit 2: Building Exterior and Hardscape Management Plan.

1. Demonstrate that the total application area has been reduced by 50%. Hardscape areas like parking lots, sidewalks, pedestrian travel areas and circulation routes should be considered and cannot be included for the application area reduction.

OR

1. Use a Calcium Magnesium Acetate (CMA) deicer, or a mix that contains a minimum of 30% CMA. If that is not possible, explain the circumstances and use deicer products that contain no greater than 5% of Sodium Chloride (NaCl) or Calcium Chloride (CaCl) in their applied state.

AND

2. Identify the salt-sensitive areas on the site and apply 4 of the following 8 principles of sound snow and ice best management practices:
- For manually applied deicing products, use calibrated spreaders to apply products as recommended by the manufacturer’s label instructions.
- Identify snow piling locations on the site and push snow into those areas to mini-mize sheet runoff and refreezing problems.
- All salt spreading vehicles should be equipped with electronic spreader controls. These instruments allow the operator to control both the amount and location of the salt spread.
- When appropriate, install infrared thermometers in the vehicles to provide fast, accurate pavement and air temperatures.
- Use pre-wetted salt whenever possible, as an alternative to dry salt.
- Keep records of salt use and its effect for each and every snow event. Trial and error is one effective way to learn optimum salt usage.
- Seek out and use weather forecasting and tracking information for your local re-gion, paying particular attention to pavement temperature.
- Keep up to date on alternative chemicals and blends (such as calcium magnesium acetate) that are environmental friendly by attending professional conferences and workshops and by sharing information with other professionals.

--------
4/1/2012
The current snow and ice removal requirements for SS Credit 2: Building Exterior and Hardscape Management Plan allow for a weighted average approach to document achievement. However, as an alternative, projects may use the following compliance path to achieve the deicer portion of the requirements:

Demonstrate that the total application area has been reduced by 50%.

AND

Identify the salt-sensitive areas on the site and apply 4 of the following 6 principles of sound snow and ice best management practices:
- All salt spreading vehicles should be equipped with electronic spreader controls. These instruments allow the operator to control both the amount and location of the salt spread.
- When appropriate, install infrared thermometers in the vehicles to provide fast, accurate pavement and air temperatures.
- Use pre-wetted salt whenever possible, as an alternative to dry salt.
- Keep records of salt use and its effect for each and every snow event. Trial and error is one effective way to learn optimum salt usage.
- Seek out and use weather forecasting and tracking information for your local region, paying particular attention to pavement temperature.
- Keep up to date on alternative chemicals and blends (such as calcium magnesium acetate) that are environmental friendly by attending professional conferences and workshops and by sharing information with other professionals.

Campus Applicable
No
Internationally Applicable:
Yes
4/1/2012
LEED Interpretation
Inquiry:

Can propane-powered equipment be an approach to help achieve credit compliance?

Ruling:

As part of this credit, the project is to employ a building exterior and hardscape management plan that uses best management practices to reduce air pollution and chemical runoff compared with standard practices.Propane-powered equipment, in place of all gasoline-powered equipment, is an acceptable site management strategy to demonstrate compliance for this part of the credit. Propane conversion for 2 cycle equipment, and 24 inch or smaller push mowers, is not currently available and therefore is not required at this time.

Campus Applicable
No
Internationally Applicable:
No

LEEDuser expert

Ashwini Arun

WSP
Senior Sustainability Manager

See all LEEDuser forum discussions about this credit » Unsubscribe from discussions about EBOM-2009 SSc2