I would like to know if someone has some experience with the level of detail the letters from manufactures need to be made. Specialle regarding the source of recycled content.
For example we have a letter that states the following information regarding post and pre consumer recycled content:
Post-consumer scrap accounts for approximately 25.6%, while pre-consumer scrap accounts for approximately 6.8%
My question here are the following:
Will this information will be sufficient to comply with credit's reviewers?
Does the letter need to state where the post/pre consumer recycled content come from?
Is it necesary that the letter be for an individual project, or a generic letter will be enough (like a letter saying all of our xxx products have xx% of pre/post recycled content).
We really appreciate anyone's help.
RETIRED
LEEDuser Expert
623 thumbs up
January 18, 2013 - 5:10 pm
Michael - I have not a reviewer question the validity of a letter from a manufacturer. However, it is important that the letter be specific to the manufacturer and not industry wide averages. The information you have seems sufficient to answer the backup the recycled content. I do NOT think that the letter has to state the source of the recycled content (you would need this if you are using the recycled material for MRc5 and therefore need is origin.) I also do NOT think that the letter has to be addressed to your project but instead can reflect the manufacturer’s products with a letter saying all of xxx products have xx% pre/post recycled content.
Michael E. Edmonds-Bauer
Edmonds International38 thumbs up
February 5, 2013 - 4:29 pm
Thank you very much Michelle.
Michael E. Edmonds-Bauer
Edmonds International38 thumbs up
May 3, 2013 - 11:27 am
Hello Michelle,
One question. Our project is located in Mexico City in the country of Mexico. All invoices will be in the local currency which is mexican pesos.
We will provide as supporting documentation at the preliminary review a letter from each material supplier indicating the total cost of the material they supplied. However this letter will indicate cost in Mexican pesos.
Currency changes everyday but it keeps at an average of 13 pesos per dollar.
Can we divide the mexican pesos by thirteen and input the result as the material cost? or is there any other acceptable way to provide this number?
RETIRED
LEEDuser Expert
623 thumbs up
May 3, 2013 - 5:11 pm
Michael - I wanted to first just note that providing the letters from your suppliers regarding costs is not a requirement. It's good to have it as backup but I would suggest just having the letters available if there is a question from your review team about costs. My philosophy is to only provide required documentation. You could mention in a narrative text box that you have this information to support your costs though.
Regarding your specific question, I checked the LEED Certification Policy Manual (http://www.usgbc.org/sites/default/files/LEED_Certification_Policy_Manua...) and could not find anything that addresses your question. It does outline that English must be used and that units of measurement must be Imperial Units - but there is no mention of cost. Looking at the BDC Material and Resource Calculator, I wonder if you can just leave everything in pesos because your % recycled will be calculated correctly using pesos in the numerator and denominator of the fraction.
Does anyone have experience with international projects and currency conversions that can confirm my statement above or help Michael directly?
Michael E. Edmonds-Bauer
Edmonds International38 thumbs up
May 15, 2013 - 5:40 pm
Hi again Michelle!!
We submitted this same question to GBCI via "feedback" through LEED online.
This is the response we get:
"Thank you for contacting the Green Building Certification Institute. Note that MRc5 - Regional Materials is earned based on a percentage requirement. Therefore leaving the currency in Mexican pesos should not cause an issue in regards to credit compliance as the percentage would be the same before and after the currency conversion.
I hope that helps, but if you have any further questions or concerns, please feel free to use the contact form at http://www.gbci.org/contactus and select "Follow up to GBCI Response," inputting your case number from this email's subject line."
So currency is not an issue for this credit documentation. We wanted to share this and hope can be helpful for other in other countries with a different currency than US dollars.
Thank you very much.
RETIRED
LEEDuser Expert
623 thumbs up
May 15, 2013 - 5:45 pm
Michael - Thanks for this update directly from GBCI! It is great when LEEDuser members post responses that can help other teams.
And I'm glad my thought on the use of pesos was right on...