Option 2 Calculation Question

Option 2 uses “travel distance”: http://www.usgbc.org/leed-interpretations?keys=100001265.

Compare the Option 2 language to that of Option 1, which defines regional as “within a 500-mile radius.” A radius is a straight-line distance (http://www.usgbc.org/leed-interpretations?keys=100001263). In other words, Option 1 is as-the-crow-flies, and Option 2 is actual travel distance. The different choice of words appears to be significant.

Haley - I think Jon is correct. Under Option 2, you wouldn't use a radius (or as the crow flies) distance for rail, inland waterway, or trucking because that is not physically possible and this option relates to actual miles traveled. While total travel distance is not defined, I think its meaning is straightforward. See MRc5 under Key July 2012 Addenda in http://www.leeduser.com/blogs/guide-key-leed-nc-v2009-addenda.

Do you have any suggestions on what to use (for instance a website like as the crow flies) in order to get the route map for option 2? Thanks,

Luma—Because I work in an inland industrial region, where major construction materials are readily available within a 500-mile radius, I have never had to use Option 2.

I would think that one could approximate a route using a shipment’s Bill of Lading or other shipping receipt. Such a document names the carrier and sometimes estimates a shipping distance or identifies intermediate ports, weigh stations, or shipping hubs along the way.

Since many raw materials and components pass through many hands before reaching the manufacturer, such extraction site shipping records may not be available to the end-purchaser. Therefore, tracking this information requires the cooperation of all the intermediaries and their carriers.

Option 2 seems difficult to document, so it seem most appropriate for projects that are remote from major material sources and for construction products that contain a very limited number of raw materials to trace back to extraction sites. I would love to hear from someone in such an area who has successfully “connected the dots” to document and earn MRc5 using Option 2.