No longer given their own credit, as has been the case in LEED 2009 and earlier, locally sourced building materials are recognized in LEED v4 as a multiplier. That means that regional credit only kicks in when a product meets the basic credit requirements, such as FSC certification or recycled content.

In all three MR Building Product Disclosure & Optimization credits, products sourced within 100 miles (160 km) of the project site are valued at 200% of their cost in credit calculations. 

There is another change as well: where in LEED v2009 “regional materials” were defined by a 500-mile radius around the project side, the new multiplier has a radius of 100 miles. A circle around a project with a radius of 500 miles allows 785,000 square miles from which to gather materials. Reduce that radius to 100 miles, and you haven’t divided that area by five: you’ve divided it by 25, down to 31,400 square miles—a dramatic reduction.

It’s all about truly local materials now; don’t bother looking for location or origin data on any complicated, highly manufactured products unless you know that a significant fraction of the raw materials, and the manufacturing locations, are right nearby.

What’s New in the LEED v4.1 beta

• The previously unachievable Option 1 has been removed.
• With the removal of Option 1, the actions that were part of Option 2 can earn up to two points in v4.1, with a 20% by cost threshold for one point, and double that for two.
• There is no longer a requirement for no more than 30% of the products to be in the structure and enclosure.