Maintain a building operating plan (BOP) that establishes operating schedules and set points and regularly review these parameters against actual building needs. When developing these parameters, consider both time-of-day and time-of-year variations in optimal temperature requirements and be careful to avoid over-conditioning the building spaces with more ventilation, heating or cooling than is necessary.

Instead of tracking recycled content in everything, focus first on “big ticket” items, materials like concrete, structural steel, masonry products and gypsum board to see if you get enough value from them to earn the credit. This approach allows you to Iimit the overall number of items you need to track and document, reducing contractor headaches. If big-ticket items are not enough, target a medium-priced item next, and so on, until you reach your goal.

Using the project’s estimated budget early on to integrate materials with recycled content in the design and specs can help prevent costly change orders during construction. 

Document credit compliance on LEED Online. This credit has an LPE path for Professional Engineers where project plans, drawings, and other information is not necessary for upload. For the full documentation path you will need to complete the following:

USGBC does not explicitly require you to set to the LEED boundary to match your entire scope of work, so you have some discretion in setting a project boundary that may impact achievement of this credit. However, it is a best practice to simply designate the LEED boundary so that it reflects your project scope, 

Complete the LEED Online Letter Template and prepare the following documents to show credit compliance, according to your chosen option. The LEED Reference Guide also offers good process guidance and sample documentation for this credit. 

At least eight of the ten required services must be operational at the time of project completion. For services that are nonexistent but proposed (up to two of the ten required services), the project team must demonstrate that these services will at least be in construction by the time the project is finished. This can be documented by signed lease agreements or a letter from the developer or owner stating the scheduled opening of the service.

For mixed-use projects, basic services that are part of your project cannot contribute towards the 10 required to achieve the credit (CIR 10/17/06). 

Consider continued  protection of the areas designated as open space for the remainder of the building’s life. 



Run calculations to verify that the credit requirements are being met. The requirements are based on your project zoning ordinances, and are influenced by the LEED project boundary and the achievement of SSc2.