Could I apply for an ID credit for using a roofing material, (on areas where a green roof is not possible), that has titanium dioxide that neutralizes nitrogen oxides (NOx)? 200 m2 of the roofing material neutralizes about 10,000 kilometers of car driving per year, regarding NOx. The material has lifelong qualities, does not deteriorate, and only needs UV-light to react. If not, is there anything I could do to make the idea eligible for ID credit? Project is located near highway and the roof could certainly do some good!
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Petra Hajná
Sustainability ConsultantSkanska Czech Republic
189 thumbs up
February 6, 2012 - 8:52 am
Hi Maria!
We were considering the use of TiO coating over our facade as well. At the end it turned out to be not as efficient as our investor expected (cleaner facade does not need cleaning that often... less cleaning expenses). Is your roof flat or sloped? Problem of this material is that it needs to be clean (no dust cover) to be efficient. So in my opinion, flat roofs are not very good for this installation.
I didn't go through all the pilot credits but I think that you will need to proof that it is "quantifiable". As you wrote 200m2 equals 10,000 VMT/year. This could actually be related to number of parking spaces installed in your project.
NOx emissions offset approach: It is related to pollutants emitted form vehicles or "external VOC" (in language of LEED :-) ) if you like. Assuming you have a number of preferred parking spaces for FE/LE vehicles that you could subtract from total number of parking spaces and some percenage of emissions from the rest you can offset with TiO. But you need to determine total VMT (vehicle miles travelled) to establish area covered with TiO material. Is there a study saying how many miles per year does non-LE/FE vehicle travel?
For example: If a car travels 10,000 km/year than you need to cover 200m2 with TiO. If you would have 100 parking spaces in your project, than you could subtract 5 for LE/FE and/or install a 1000m2 (5x200m2) of TiO material...
Does anyone else think this might be a good approach to using TiO materials?
Tristan Roberts
RepresentativeVermont House of Representatives
LEEDuser Expert
11477 thumbs up
February 21, 2012 - 11:03 pm
Maria, please refer to some of the discussions below about possible innovation credits. Generally, use of a single "technology" is not sufficient to earn an ID credit. That's not to say that this is a bad idea, or that it doesn't have benefits, but LEED is looking for comprehensive, quantifiable benefits.