Animal based products

A couple thoughts:1) The credit language specifies "plants."2) Animals have to be killed to extract their fat. Stearic acid is a byproduct of beef production.3) I recall a rule of thumb that wool is okay under MRc6 since the animal is theoretically not killed (although in practice it's likely to be raised for both meat and wool), while leather, for example, is excluded due to the need for killing. However, I am not sure where I picked up that rule and if it really exists. Anyone have input?Anyway, I would say that you're unlikely to be able to count the stearic acid here.

Hi Lauren,

You are definitely right that animal materials can be included in the calculations for MRc6, though it is without question that the animal cannot be killed during the harvesting process. There is a good CIR ruling from 4/17/2009 (on leather) that sheds a bit of light on the USGBC's thinking "Although leather is an animal product, it is not deemed to be rapidly renewable as the leather material or hide may not be collected until after the death of the animal. An example an acceptable renewable animal source would be sheep’s fleece. The fleece can be sheered from the animal without presenting harm to it nor does it prevent the animal from regenerating the material."
If sounds like stearic acid would count only if it could be harvested in such a way that the animal could regenerate that fat on a regular basis.
Best- Anne

I do not find the objection to leather to be an effective argument as it is essentially a byproduct of the beef industry. The animal is not killed during the harvesting of the leather, it is killed during the harvesting of the meat. I know that for some this is hardly a noteworthy distinction and I respect the sensibilities of those who have objection to our harvesting of animals. However, a product such as leather would be landfill if it was not harvested as a material. If we were discussing the difference between fur and leather I can certainley appreciate that there is no commercially viable trade for the meat of most fur bearing animals and so the exclusion makes sence for fur. But leather is a byproduct and as so should be accepted otherwise this becomes a moral argument between Vegitarians and Carnivores which really is not what this is all about.
That really is an argument for a different forum.

Clint, have you looked at how MRc6 is changing to a biobased credit in LEED 2012? I hadn't looked at this in terms of leather, etc., but I wonder if they would be allowed.