Our recent webcast, Deep Material Vetting That Won’t Chew Through Your Design Budget, included a “homework” assignment: Chris and Scott of Re:Vision Architecture asked everyone to vet three to five materials they’re considering using in a current project.
LEED v4 bundled what had previously been several separate low-emitting materials credits into one exceedingly complicated credit. LEED v4.1 tries to reduce some of the difficulty of achievement, but much of the complexity remains.
We'll break things down category by category.
What this covers: Stone, ceramic, powder-coated metals, plated or anodized metal, glass, concrete, clay brick, unfinished or untreated solid wood
LEED v4 has bundled what had previously been several separate low-emitting materials credit into one exceedingly complicated credit. On an individual materials basis, most of the updates to thresholds and standards are fairly minor, but taken as a whole, and combined with the complexity of some of the referenced standards, it's a lot to wrap you head around.
We'll break things down category by category, and then answer some FAQs. If your question isn't answered here, please review the forum below and then post any additional questions there.
From Dec. 28, 2014 till Jan. 5, 2015 both LEED Online v3 (used by LEED 2009 projects) and the new LEED Online (used by LEED v4, Homes, and Campuses) will be down for maintenance.
Then, on Jan. 5, 2015, LEED 2009 projects using BD+C, ID+C and EB:O+M rating systems will be find themselves on the new LEED Online platform, and new LEED 2009 projects will register and use it going forward.
USGBC has more detail and is offering several Webex events to answer questions.
Which LEED credits stimulate the most questions? These LEEDuser forums are the most active—if you have questions, chances are they may have been discussed before. Click below to visit the forum and check it out.
Don't see the credit you're looking for? See all our rating systems and credits here.
The official title of our repository of templates, tools, calculators, spreadsheets, and samples that you can use on your LEED projects is our Documentation Toolkit.
But I call it The Jackpot. When my colleague Nadav Malin showed his then-12-year-old daughter an earlier version of LEEDuser.com, she thought the forum, the guidance, the FAQs, the checklists, the credit language was all great. But her remark, "Oh—there's the jackpot," immediately summed up the value of the Doc Toolkit.
When USGBC announced in late October 2014 (see LEED 2009 Registration Extended to October 2016) that LEED version 2009 would continue to be available for an additional 16 months—to October 2016—on top of its already unprecedented 15-month phase-out period, I was not a happy camper.