I'm writing this from San Francisco, where I've been at the West Coast Green Conference. This is the fourth year of the event--the nation's largest green building conference and trade show focused exclusively on residential applications.
This credit requires your project to demonstrate that at least 25% (by cost) of food and beverage purchases during the performance period meet any of the following standards and criteria:
The prospect of physically and systematically sorting through all your building’s waste to identify a baseline understanding of your building’s waste can be daunting.
Check to make sure you fully understand the requirements of the credit before deciding not to pursue it, however, because a waste stream audit can provide valuable information about your project—and it can be a cheap credit, if executed properly.
This prerequisite lays the groundwork for achieving the IEQ credits for green cleaning (for an overview of all the green cleaning credits and how they relate to each other, see the diagram at right). A green cleaning policy provides your team with a document of guiding principles and a single reference point for questions.
You don’t have to hit your targets, such as the percentage of compliant cleaning products that you intend to use, but you do have to implement the policy to the best of your ability. The green cleaning credits award actual attainment of your goals.
Documenting this credit can take time, since cost and exact percentages of post- and pre-consumer materials must be collected for each recycled item used.
LEED requires the base materials budget to be consistent across all MR credits. The LEED Online credit forms help provide consistency across MR credits by applying the same data to multiple credits. Materials used to earn this credit cannot also be counted for MRc3: Materials Reuse, nor for MRc6: Certified Wood, but they can contribute to MRc5: Regional Materials.
Documenting this credit can take time, since cost and exact percentages of post- and pre-consumer materials must be collected for each recycled item used.
LEED requires the base materials budget to be consistent across all MR credits. The LEED Online credit forms help provide consistency across MR credits by applying the same data to multiple credits. Materials used to earn this credit cannot also be counted for MRc3: Materials Reuse, nor for MRc7: Certified Wood, but they can contribute to MRc5: Regional Materials and MRc6: Rapidly Renewable Materials.
To get the full benefits of this credit, consider requiring urea-formaldehyde-free composite woods and laminate adhesives for tenant construction. You can either recommend compliant products or simply include the requirement in a tenant guideline document, such as one completed for SSc9: Tenant Design and Construction Guidelines.
Research credit-compliant products, including plywood, MDF, door cores, laminate countertops, and other composite materials before construction begins helps to ensure that the right products are used. Early research helps avoid costly change orders and mistakes that would disqualify you from earning the credit.
While most of the focus in this credit is on composite wood, make sure to check the laminate adhesives used by manufacturers in products such as countertops, doors, flooring and millwork that has adhered edging, laminates, and veneers.
Like most of the other low-emitting materials credits, this credit is all-or-nothing.