The cost of this credit is project-specific.

Thermal Comfort Design

Complying with the thermal comfort requirements of this credit is straightforward and easy for projects planning to install an HVAC system. Added costs for this portion of the credit will be the approximately four hours of time to document credit compliance.

Thermal Comfort Control

The cost of this credit is not quantifiable.

The cost of achieving this credit is dependent on the goals of the project, as well as other programmatic factors and factors influencing site selection such as the cost of land, and availability of critical infrastructure.

This credit has no added cost.

LEED v4 has expanded provisions for collection, storage, and disposal of the five traditional waste streams (paper, plastic, metal, corrugated cardboard, and glass) to also include a minimum of two of the following three waste streams: batteries, mercury- containing lamps, and electronic waste, to be selected at the discretion of the Owner.

If part or all of the project site contains greenfield areas, this credit requires that projects preserve and protect a minimum of 40% of such areas from all development and construction activity.

On the one hand, limiting the construction footprint could reduce construction and maintenance costs; on the other hand, it could complicate construction (due to limited access and staging areas) and could adversely affect overall financial outcomes of a project if development scope is limited. Either way, those cost impacts will be very project-specific and difficult to quantify.

The cost of this credit is project-specific. 

Due to strategies identified or explored through the assessment process and cost synergies with other LEED credits, this credit is more likely to produce cost savings than added costs. It requires a site survey or assessment that is intended to provide useful information informing site design, ideally in an integrative process (conducted through IPc1). The site assessment should include topography, hydrology, climate, vegetation, soils, human uses, and human health effects (related to site).

The cost of the credit is site-specific.

This credit adopts requirements previously within the LEED v2009 Site Selection credit. LEED v4 has modified this credit, expanding allowances for some site development work which maintains or improves access to water bodies on or adjacent to the particular site’s LEED boundary.

There’s no getting around it: adding renewable energy production capacity to a project is likely to be an added cost. However, costs are coming down—for solar photovoltaic (PV), at least—and projects are increasingly finding a variety of benefits to add renewables, including tax advantages, added value, and locked-in pricing.