Can anyone clarify the following section from p469 of the ref guide? It seems to be saying only include MEP materials that are credit compliant in calculations.
However, unlike furniture, if some of these products are included in credit calculations, not all products of that type must be included. For example, if the cost of ducts is included in the MR calculations for recycled content, the cost of ducts that do not meet the credit requirement does not need to be included in the numerator or denominator of the credit calculation. However, the denominator for cost-based credits (all Building Product Disclosure and Optimization
credits) calculations must be the same.
Nadav Malin
CEOBuildingGreen, Inc.
LEEDuser Moderator
844 thumbs up
December 13, 2017 - 12:36 pm
Hi Lissa,
Wow--this is kind of confusing language, isn't it? Just before that part you excerpted, it says (about MEP materials): "If they are included in credit calculations, they must be included consistently across relevant MR credits."
So that basic rule still applies. Beyond that, I'd say that your interpretation sounds correct.
If, for example, you had ducts with recycled content and pipes without, you can include the ducts in your calculations and ignore the pipes. But, as that first rule I quoted says, if you've included certain products for any one of the cost-based credits, you have to include those products for all those credits.
Lissa Spitz
Project ManagerA3C Collaborative Architecture
1 thumbs up
December 14, 2017 - 10:23 am
Thanks Nadav! I guess that as long as total materials cost remains the same, we're still measuring materials with sustainable attributes against conventional materials.