This credit covers materials purchased for both renovations and routine maintenance. There’s no minimum scope of work for this credit, so remember to include all materials purchased to maintain your building (e.g. paint touch-ups) in addition to products purchased for renovations or fit-outs.
Purchases for all maintenance and renovation activities (environmentally preferable and not) must be tracked. Teams must track relevant purchases made by both the building management and tenants during the performance period.
Furniture can earn a point too
Option 2 provides an opportunity to earn a point for environmentally preferred furniture purchases. Teams must track furniture purchases (environmentally preferable and not) made by both the building management and tenants during the performance period.
No relevant purchases, no problem
Option 3 is for buildings that had no renovations or maintenance activities and did not purchase any furniture. But remember, products and materials used during the course of routine maintenance are now included in the scope of this credit, even if tenants make those purchases.
Effective tenant outreach is key
Collecting purchasing data from tenants can be challenging, so early and effective tenant outreach is key if you plan on pursuing this credit. LEED v4 does allow teams to exclude up to 10% of the project’s total floor area from the credit calculations, but this allowance may not be enough if several tenants are unwilling to participate.
Don’t forget about your prerequisite policy
This credit builds on the policy developed for MRp2 Facility Maintenance and Renovation Policy. The policy is essentially a blueprint for this credit and should include key information about the project’s environmentally preferred purchasing goals and who should be involved in the process.
But remember: although the policy is only required to cover purchases under the building management’s control, this credit covers all purchases in the building—tenants included. That means that if you’re planning to pursue the credit, your policy should reflect the entire building’s purchases.
Changes from LEED 2009
For those familiar with LEED 2009, this credit includes a number of major changes.
A new option has been added. Option 3 is for buildings that experienced no alterations and did not purchase any furniture. Previously, buildings that didn’t have qualifying facility maintenance and renovations during the performance period could not attempt this credit.
There is no minimum scope of renovation work required to be eligible for this credit. In other words, products and materials used during the course of routine maintenance are now included in the scope of this credit. This is very different from LEED 2009, which laid out specific requirements for “qualifying” facility alterations and additions.
Furniture has been added. Furniture is no longer tracked as a “durable good” like it was in LEED 2009. Furniture has its own compliance option worth 1 point, like it did as a durable good in LEED 2009, but the minimum threshold has been raised from 40% sustainable purchases to 75%.
The calculation methodology has changed. In LEED v4 only the sustainable portion of a product counts towards credit compliance. This is a big change from LEED 2009, where a product’s full purchase price contributed to credit compliance even if only a portion of it met the credit requirements.
The good news is that items still earn weighted credit if more than one sustainability criterion is met. But again, it’s only the percentage of the item that is sustainable that counts towards compliance.
Local product requirements have changed. Local products must now be sourced (extracted, manufactured, and purchased) within 100 miles of the site, rather than 500 miles. But, it gets trickier than that. If the product meets the 100-mile radius requirement, it must also meet at least one other sustainability criteria (and is then valued at 200% of the cost). If the product meets the 100-mile requirement but does not have an additional environmental attribute, it does not contribute at all.
Updated sustainability criteria under LEED v4
Several familiar criteria are still in play for this credit that were relevant in LEED 2009, including recycled content, FSC, locally-sourced, and low-VOC. However, some new criteria have been added to the mix, and the rules for some familiar criteria have changed.
Recycled Content
Post-consumer recycled content is valued at its full value, while pre-consumer recycled content is valued at half its full value. Products no longer need to contain a minimum percentage of recycled content to contribute to earning the credit.
For example, if a $100 product contains 20% post-consumer content and 20% pre-consumer content, the contributing value is $20 for post-consumer and $10 for pre-consumer, for a total of $30.
FSC-Certified
No changes. SFI (Sustainable Forestry Initiative) products are still not approved by USGBC and therefore do not contribute to credit compliance.
If a product contains both FSC certified wood and non-certified wood, only the percent (by weight) that is FSC certified may contribute toward compliance. See the Calculating FSC Credit Contributions section of the Reference Guide for additional guidance.
Biobased Material
This is a new criterion under LEED v4. Biobased materials are composed of biological products, renewable agricultural materials, or forestry products. To qualify as sustainable, bio-based materials must meet the Sustainable Agriculture Network’s (SAN) Sustainable Agriculture Standard, for FSC if they are forestry products.
The most well-known label that meets the SAN standard is the Rainforest Alliance. Products can self-declare conformance with SAN but they must meet additional requirements (see the Reference Guide for details). Given the extra legwork required, it’s likely not worth the effort to document bio-based materials other than those that carry the Rainforest Alliance label. Even with that label, there are a limited number of products that are certified and that are relevant in building purchases.
Material Reuse: Onsite
This includes salvaged, refurbished, or reused products. Components used for their original function or in a new role are eligible for this credit.
Material Reuse: Off-Site
This includes salvaged, refurbished, or reused products. There is no minimum percentage of the product that must be salvaged.
The cost that contributes toward compliance is either the actual cost paid for the material, or the replacement value, whichever is greater.
Furniture taken from the building owners’ previous facility may be counted towards compliance if it was purchased at least two years before the LEED registration date. Leased furniture can contribute if the furniture has been in use for two years or more.
Extended Producer Responsibility
This is a new criterion under LEED v4. Products purchased from a manufacturer that participates in an extended producer responsibility program may contribute towards credit achievement. 50% of the total cost of these items contributes towards compliance.
GreenScreen v1.2 Benchmark
This is a new criterion under LEED v4. Products must have fully inventoried chemical ingredients to 100 ppm and have no Benchmark 1 hazard materials.
If any of the ingredients are assessed with the GreenScreen List Translator, 100% of the cost may contribute towards this criterion.
If all ingredients have undergone a full GreenScreen Assessment, 150% of the cost may contribute towards this criterion.
Cradle to Cradle Certified
This is a new criterion in LEED v4. Products with Cradle to Cradle certification contribute different amounts to earning this credit, based on the program version and level of certification. See the LEED Reference Guide for details.
REACH Optimization (International Alternative Compliance Path)
This is a new criterion in LEED v4. REACH is a label for end use products and materials that do not contain substances that meet REACH criteria for substances of very high concern.
If the product contains no ingredients listed on the REACH Authorization or Candidate list, 100% of the cost contributes toward credit achievement.
Product Manufacturer Supply Chain Optimization
This is a new criterion in LEED v4. The intent of this criterion is to encourage purchasing products from manufacturers that have robust and validated safety, health, hazard, and risk programs in place for each of their building materials or products. It also ensures that each manufacturer’s supply chain has programs for optimizing environmental and human health and safety throughout their suppliers, and are transparent in their health and safety claims.
Low VOC Emissions
This criterion has been expanded in LEED v4 to include VOC requirements for the following products:
- Thermal and acoustic insulation
- Flooring materials and finishes
- Ceiling materials and finishes
- Wall materials and finishes
These products must be either inherently low-emitting or be tested for compliance with CDPH Standard Method V1.1-2010, Section 8.
VOC Content Requirements for Wet-Applied Products
Green Seal Standard GS-11 is no longer a low VOC standard for paints and coatings for this credit.
Low Formaldehyde Emissions
No significant changes from LEED 2009. All composite wood must be constructed from materials with low formaldehyde emissions that meet the CARB requirements for ULEF resins or no-added formaldehyde based resins.
Local Sourcing
This criterion has changed significantly from LEED 2009. To count towards compliance, a product must meet one of the criteria listed above. It also must also be extracted, manufactured, and purchased within 100 miles, as the crow flies, from the project site.
If the product meets both criteria, it is valued at 200% of its cost. If it meets just the 100-mile radius requirement, it contributes 0%.
Calculating compliance: Only the sustainable portion counts
Only the sustainable portion of a product counts towards credit compliance. This is a major departure from LEED 2009, which counted the total cost of a product towards compliance if at least one approved sustainability criterion was met.
For example, if you purchased a product for $100 that contains 40% post-consumer recycled content, the value that contributes to earning the credit drops from $100 under LEED 2009 to $40 under LEED v4.
But, the minimum thresholds previously associated with several sustainability criteria have been removed, which may benefit your project.
For example, if you purchased a product for $1,000 that includes 60% material salvaged off-site, the value that contributes to earning the credit under LEED v4 is $600. Under LEED 2009, the product contributes $0 because it does not meet the minimum threshold of 70% salvaged material.
This new approach to calculating compliance rewards teams for purchasing products that contain higher proportions of sustainable materials or that meet multiple sustainability criteria.
USGBC has created a calculator to help teams track purchases, the sustainability criteria met, and the contribution to credit compliance. This calculator is posted in the Resources tab.
Be diligent with product documentation
The documentation requirements vary depending on the sustainability criterion. Documentation must be submitted for 100% of the following products: wood products, bio-based materials, GreenScreen v1.2 Benchmark, Cradle to Cradle certification, and REACH Optimization. See Option 1 & Option 2, Step 5 under the Step-By-Step Guidance section of the Reference Guide for additional information.
Readiness Review Questions
- Is there a process in place for tracking purchases made for all renovations and routine facility maintenance? Remember that there is no minimum scope of work in this LEED v4 credit; all materials used to maintain the building are covered by this credit, such as paint for touch-ups.
- Have certain products already been internally mandated by the project for design consistency for future additions or alterations? If they don’t meet the sustainability criteria, can alternatives to these products be used?
- Can existing product tracking processes be reconfigured to track environmental qualities required by this credit? Or does such a system need to be created?
- Who is responsible for purchasing these types of materials? If applicable, how can a tracking system address multiple purchasing entities, including contractors, subcontractors, and operations staff?
- What are the project’s potential barriers to sustainable FMR purchasing?
- How can you involve your vendors in supporting your sustainable purchasing goals?
- How can you involve your tenants in supporting your goals?