-
You have to buy something
If you plan to make any purchases of durable goodsDurable goods have a useful life of 2 years or more and are replaced infrequently or may require capital program outlays. Examples include furniture, office equipment, appliances, external power adapters, televisions, and audiovisual equipment. during the performance period, you are eligible to earn this credit—there is no minimum purchasing requirement. The purchases can occur during the performance period, or up to two years prior to the end date of the performance period. If you are going to or have purchased any furniture or electric-powered equipment during that time, it may qualify for the credit criteria.
For this credit, durable goods are classified as either furniture or electronics. The infrequent need to replace these types of items can be an impediment to earning the credit—if you don’t need to make any purchases during the performance period, you can’t earn the credit. With a little foresight, though, you should be able to coordinate the replacement of some durable items to coincide with the performance period.
Note that some items can be classified as either “durable goods” or “ongoing consumables.” Don’t sweat the difference too much—just make sure you classify items consistently across this and other LEED credits, including MRc1: Sustainable Purchasing—Ongoing Consumables.
Two options: furniture and electronics
MRc2.1 awards a point to projects that purchase at least 40% of electric-powered equipment that meets the sustainability criteria.
MRc2.2 awards a point to projects that purchase at least 40% of furniture that meets the sustainability criteria. You can pursue either MRc2.1 or MRc2.2, or both.
Because Energy Star electric-powered equipment is so widely available and cost-competitive, it’s more common for teams to choose this option. The furniture option is pursued less frequently, but it may be a convenient one for projects that expect tenant turnover during the performance period, for larger buildings that have a high volume of furniture, or for buildings that have an active furniture reuse program.
Your tracking system can make or break the credit
Having a system for tracking your purchases of durable goods is key to achieving this credit. If you don’t have one in place already, you’ll need to establish one. To streamline the tracking of your purchases, develop tracking systems for ongoing consumables purchases and durable goods purchases in tandem.
Having a system for tracking your purchases of durable goods is key to achieving this credit.Keep in mind that your purchasing tracking must cover the entire building, including tenant spaces, with one exception—you can exclude purchases for up to 10% of the building floor area if that area is under separate management. The need to cover the whole building makes documentation and compliance very difficult for multi-tenant buildings, which often choose not to pursue this credit. Consider these questions when approaching this credit
- Which individuals or departments are responsible for procuring goods that are eligible for this credit?
- Has your project purchased, or will it purchase, any electronics, appliances, or furniture within two years of the anticipated end date of the performance period? If so, you might be eligible to earn this credit.
- Do any electronics or furniture need to be replaced? Schedule replacement of these goods during the performance period to qualify for this credit.
- Is there a system to track purchasing of all durable goods? If not, you will need to establish one to earn this credit.
LEED-EBOM MRc2 – FAQs
What if we don’t purchase any durable goods during our performance period? Is there anything we can do to capture these points?
No, but there may be some things you can do. Consider extending the performance period for this credit back to include older qualifying purchases. The performance period for any prerequisite or credit can last for a maximum of 24 months, at the discretion of the project team. Remember that all performance periods must overlap and terminate within 30 days of each other. Consult pages xix–xx of the LEED-EBOM Reference Guide for additional guidance.
What if an electric-powered item we purchased is not eligible for an Energy Star rating? Since it’s currently not possible for this item to receive a rating, do we need to include it in the calculations?
This is a very common question, and LEEDuser expects USGBC to clarify its policy at some point. For the time being, the following is the best of our knowledge: Energy Star has developed performance-based specifications for equipment in over 60 product categories, and if the product purchased is not in any of these categories, it is currently ineligible for an Energy Star rating, and it can be excluded completely from MRc2 calculations. If you are purchasing a product that isn’t rated by Energy Star, research the available options and try to buy a more energy-efficient model.
Our organization has a centralized purchasing program that buys products for several buildings, including the one pursuing LEED-EBOM certification. It’s difficult to track which durable goods purchases are used in the project building versus the many other buildings in our organization. Do you have any suggestions?
While the ideal solution is to develop a way to track items that are purchased and used within the scope of your LEED project boundary, some projects may find that this is not possible. An alternative method for compliance you may consider attempting is to take an organization-wide approach to satisfying the credit requirements. To do this, thoroughly document the sustainability criteria met for total organizational purchases, and then extrapolate this performance to the project building. If most facilities within your organization have similar equipment needs, and your calculations are defensible and appropriate with clear documentation, you may be able to support achievement of this credit.
Purchasing for our organization takes place in the LEED-EBOM project building, but not all durable goods that are purchased end up being used there. Should we include all of the purchases in MRc2?
Only durable goods that are used within the scope of the LEED project boundary should be included in MRc2.
How can EPEAT products help me achieve my project’s sustainability goals?
The EPEAT program can help you evaluate electronic products (desktop computers, laptops and monitors) against a large range of environmental performance criteria—not just energy use. You can be sure that any EPEAT-rated product is energy-efficient because Energy Star certification is a requirement of the EPEAT program. This means that a product that has earned any level of EPEAT rating allows you to claim two sustainability criteria and earn double credit under MRc2, for Energy Star and EPEAT.
What exactly qualifies as an item or material salvaged onsite?
Onsite salvage refers to an established internal program focusing on material reuse. Shuffling equipment around the office or between floors does not count (except in a multi-tenant scenario where unwanted items are collected and distributed between tenants). This criterion is often best met by larger organizations that place used furniture in long-term storage and then make stored items available to other buildings within the organization when the need arises.
We have multiple tenants in our building, some of which are not responsive to requests for purchasing records. Can we exclude their purchases?
In instances where tenant data cannot be gathered, or the LEED-EBOM applicant does not have control over tenant operational practices, the project team may exclude up to 10% of the building’s gross floor areaGross floor area (based on ASHRAE definition) is the sum of the floor areas of the spaces within the building, including basements, mezzanine and intermediate‐floored tiers, and penthouses wi th headroom height of 7.5 ft (2.2 meters) or greater. Measurements m ust be taken from the exterior 39 faces of exterior walls OR from the centerline of walls separating buildings, OR (for LEED CI certifying spaces) from the centerline of walls separating spaces. Excludes non‐en closed (or non‐enclosable) roofed‐over areas such as exterior covered walkways, porches, terraces or steps, roof overhangs, and similar features. Excludes air shafts, pipe trenches, and chimneys. Excludes floor area dedicated to the parking and circulation of motor vehicles. ( Note that while excluded features may not be part of the gross floor area, and therefore technically not a part of the LEED project building, they may still be required to be a part of the overall LEED project and subject to MPRs, prerequisites, and credits.) for any credit. See page xxii of the Reference Guide for further information.
For MRc2 specifically, non-participating tenants in excess of the 10% exemption must be included in the credit calculations. Project teams should assume that any tenant that does not provide data is 0% compliant with sustainable purchasing criteria. The total purchasing level of non-participating tenants must be estimated using the data collected from participating tenants. Estimated data can be extrapolated on a per-square-foot or per-occupant basis, or by using another appropriate calculation. The estimated purchasing level should then be aggregated into the data collected for the rest of the building to generate building-wide purchasing values. See the Documentation Toolkit tab and pages 264–265 of the Reference Guide for additional calculations guidance.
Can I use the LEED-NC default of 25% recycled content for steel in our furniture purchases?
ANSWER – The LEED-EBOM Reference Guide doesn’t explicitly offer the same default for steel recycled content that is afforded under LEED-NC, and steel building materials typically have a much higher level of recycled content than steel consumer products. That said, the 25% default is a conservative estimate and isn’t unreasonable for products that fall in the EBOM durable goods category. It’s likely that the 25% default will pass the LEED review process; however, it’s always preferable to provide manufacturer product data sheets that confirm the actual recycled content level.
Legend
- Best Practices
- Gotcha
- Action Steps
- Cost Tip
USGBC
Excerpted from LEED 2009 for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance
MR Credit 2: Sustainable Purchasing—Durable Goods
1-2 Points
Intent
To reduce the environmental and air quality impacts of the materials acquired for use in the operations and maintenance of buildings.
Requirements
Maintain a sustainable purchasing program covering items available at a higher cost per unit and durable goodsDurable goods have a useful life of 2 years or more and are replaced infrequently or may require capital program outlays. Examples include furniture, office equipment, appliances, external power adapters, televisions, and audiovisual equipment. that are replaced infrequently and/or may require capital program outlays to purchase. Materials that may be considered either ongoing consumablesOngoing consumables have a low cost per unit and are regularly used and replaced in the course of business. Examples include paper, toner cartridges, binders, batteries, and desk accessories. (see MR Credit 1: Sustainable Purchasing—Ongoing Consumables) or durable goods, can be counted under either category provided consistency is maintained with MR Credit 1, with no contradictions, exclusions or double-counting. Consistency must also be maintained with MR Credit 8: Solid Waste Management—Durable Goods.
MRc2.1: Electric-Powered Equipment
1 PointAchieve sustainable purchases of at least 40% of total purchases of electric-powered equipment1 (by cost) during the performance period. Sustainable purchases shall meet 1 of the following criteria:
- The equipment is ENERGY STAR® qualified (for product categories with developed specifications).
- The equipment (either battery or corded) replaces conventional gas-powered equipment2.
- Projects outside the U.S. may demonstrate the equipment is equal to or more stringent than ENERGY STAR® qualified through use of local equivalencies.
AND/OR
MRc2.2: Furniture
1 PointAchieve sustainable purchases of at least 40% of total purchases of furniture (by cost) during the performance period. Sustainable purchases shall meet 1 or more of the following criteria:
- Purchases contain at least 10% postconsumer and/or 20% postindustrial material.
- Purchases contain at least 70% material salvaged from off-site or outside the organization.
- Purchases contain at least 70% material salvaged from on-site, through an internal organization materials and equipment reuse program.
- Purchases contain at least 50% rapidly renewableTerm describing a natural material that is grown and harvested on a relatively short-rotation cycle (defined by the LEED rating system to be ten years or less). material.
- Purchases contain at least 50% Forest Stewardship Council (FSCIndependent, third-party verification that forest products are produced and sold based on a set of criteria for forest management and chain-of-custody controls developed by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), an international nonprofit organization. FSC criteria for certifying forests around the world address forest management, legal issues, indigenous rights, labor rights, multiple benefits, and environmental impacts.)-certified woodWood from a source that has been determined, through a certification process, to meet stated ecological and other criteria. There are numerous forest certification programs in general use based on several standards, but only the Forest Stewardship Council's standards, which include requirements that the wood be tracked through its chain-of-custody, can be used to qualify wood for a point in the LEED Rating System..
- Purchases contain at least 50% material harvested and processed or extracted and processed within a 500 mile (800 kilometer) radius of the project. Building materials or products shipped by rail or water have been extracted, harvested or recovered, as
well as manufactured within a 500 mile (800 kilometer) total travel distance of the project site using a weighted average determined through the following formula: (Distance by rail/3) + (Distance by inland waterway/2) + (Distance by sea/15) + (Distance by all other means) ≤ 500 miles [800 kilometers]
Each furniture purchase can receive credit for each sustainable criterion met (i.e., a $100 purchase that contains both 10% postconsumer recycled content and 50% of content harvested within 500 miles of the project counts twice in the calculation, for a total of $200 of sustainable purchasing).
Durable goodsDurable goods have a useful life of 2 years or more and are replaced infrequently or may require capital program outlays. Examples include furniture, office equipment, appliances, external power adapters, televisions, and audiovisual equipment. must be purchased during the performance period to earn points in this credit.
Potential Technologies & Strategies
When purchasing materials, supplies or equipment, specify products that meet 1 or more of the criteria. This credit is eligible for exemplary performanceIn LEED, certain credits have established thresholds beyond basic credit achievement. Meeting these thresholds can earn additional points through Innovation in Design (ID) or Innovation in Operations (IO) points. As a general rule of thumb, ID credits for exemplary performance are awarded for doubling the credit requirements and/or achieving the next incremental percentage threshold. However, this rule varies on a case by case basis, so check the credit requirements. if the project team uses Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tools (EPEAT)-rated desktop computers, monitors and notebooks.
FOOTNOTES
1 Electric-powered equipment include at a minimum, office equipment (computers, monitors, copiers, printers, scanners, fax machines),
appliances (refrigerators, dishwashers, water coolers), external power adapters, and televisions and other audiovisual equipment.
2 Gas-powered equipment include at a minimum, maintenance equipment and vehicles, landscaping equipment and cleaning equipment.
Organizations
Greenguard
Provides a listing of Greenguard Indoor Air Quality certified furniture.
Energy Star
ENERGY STAR is a joint program of EPA and the U.S. Department of Energy to help people save
money and protect the environment through energy-efficient products and practices.
Forest Stewardship Council
The Forest Stewardship Council (FSCIndependent, third-party verification that forest products are produced and sold based on a set of criteria for forest management and chain-of-custody controls developed by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), an international nonprofit organization. FSC criteria for certifying forests around the world address forest management, legal issues, indigenous rights, labor rights, multiple benefits, and environmental impacts.) has created principles, criteria and indicators for guiding forest management toward sustainable outcomes. FSC coordinates the development of forest management standards for geographic regions all over the world. See the Referenced Standard section for more information about FSC-certified products.
Web Tools
Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool
EPEAT is an environmental comparison tool for desktop and notebook computers and monitors. All of the listed products are Energy Star certified, but EPEAT makes useful comparisons in a way that Energy Start does not.
Energy Star – Find a Certified Product
The Energy Star website provides a listing of all the product types eligible for an Energy Star rating.
Durable Goods Purchasing Tracking
Use this tracking tool (with examle) to monitor durable goodsDurable goods have a useful life of 2 years or more and are replaced infrequently or may require capital program outlays. Examples include furniture, office equipment, appliances, external power adapters, televisions, and audiovisual equipment. purchases made during the performance period.
Extrapolating for Non-Participating Tenants
Purchasing and data tracking must cover the entire building, including tenant spaces, with the exception that teams may exclude purchases for up to 10% of your building's floor area if that area is under separate management. This template provides an example of how to extrapolate credit compliance with non-participating tenants.
Sample Cut Sheet
Look for the Energy Star label on cut sheets to find products that comply with this credit.
MRc2 LEED Online Form Guidance
Use these annotated guides to the MRc2.1 and MRc2.2 LEED Online forms for help in your documentation.
LEED Online Forms: EBOM-2009 MR
The following links take you to the public, informational versions of the dynamic LEED Online forms for each EBOMEBOM is an acronym for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance, one of the LEED 2009 rating sytems.-2009 MR credit. You'll need to fill out the live versions of these forms on LEED Online for each credit you hope to earn.
Version 4 forms (newest):
- MRc1: Sustainable Purchasing—Consumables
- MRc2.1: Sustainable Purchasing—Durable Goods—Electric
- MRc2.2: Sustainable Purchasing—Durable Goods—Furniture
- MRc3: Sustainable Purchasing—Facility Alterations
- MRc4: Sustainable Purchasing—Lamps
- MRc5: Sustainable Purchasing—Food
- MRc6: Solid Waste Management—Waste Audit
- MRc7: Solid Waste Management—Consumables
- MRc8: Solid Waste Management—Durable Goods
- MRc9: Solid Waste Management—Facility Alterations
Version 3 forms:
These links are posted by LEEDuser with USGBC's permission. USGBC has certain usage restrictions for these forms; for more information, visit LEED Online and click "Sample Forms Download."
LEEDuser is produced by BuildingGreen, Inc., with YR&G authoring most of the original content. LEEDuser enjoys ongoing collaboration with USGBC.
61 Comments
Durable Goods - Furniture
We are working with a project building that is a large convention center and event hall, with some permanent offices. For MRc2.2. Would 4-stream waste and recycle containers placed throughout the facility count as "furniture"? They are manufactured with recycled content. Table 1 under MRc1 lists "maintenance equipment" as a durable good. The waste containers are definitely not "powered equipment", so I believe they should fall under "furniture".
Hi Joann,
This is a good question, and I think it makes sense to consider waste containers as a furniture durable good like you propose. I think the main thing to watch out for here is that if you're going to count this type of maintenance equipment purchase, you should be sure to include similar purchases in the MRc2.2 calculations, whether they qualify as sustainable or not. Basically, you don't want to be picking and choosing what to include - if you decide to take credit for this type of durable good, you'll want to consistently include all purchases that fall under that category. And if you think a reviewer might be confused, it can be helpful to write a brief narrative that clarifies your approach to the credit. Hope this helps!
Do cubicle partitions count as furniture/durable goods in MRC2?
Calling all experts- in your experience do new cubicle walls/partitions count as "furniture" in LEED EBOMEBOM is an acronym for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance, one of the LEED 2009 rating sytems. 2009. How about white/cork boards and things of that nature? I am trying to determine if we should include cubicle partitions etc in our furniture/durable goodsDurable goods have a useful life of 2 years or more and are replaced infrequently or may require capital program outlays. Examples include furniture, office equipment, appliances, external power adapters, televisions, and audiovisual equipment. calculations. Thanks for your advice/experience.
Well as usual in these types of discussion we roll out the old stand by.."it depends'. As they usually cannot be considered permanently or semi-permanently attached to a building then, Yes! (Can you defend the narrative that the movable walls are movable enough that they can be treated the same as 'six-seater sofas' as an example) Which other credit would you place them in?...I'd certainly place them in MR8 if I was donating them to another user, so in this case yes I would include them in MR2 with full documentation and backup as to recycle content, etc as shown in the reference guide.
Thanks so much for your answer Barry. We would prefer not count cubicle walls (makes ongoing tracking that much harder), and I think we are pretty safe not including them.
problem with MR Cr2.1 template version 5 at LEED online
Hello
we got a problem when we finished uploading and filling information for MR cr 2.1with durable goodsDurable goods have a useful life of 2 years or more and are replaced infrequently or may require capital program outlays. Examples include furniture, office equipment, appliances, external power adapters, televisions, and audiovisual equipment. of electrical equpiment
At the end of template, we clicked the check compliance button, it showed 0. but it doesnt show any red marked area !!! ( I thought if some requirment information isn't put in the template then the read market area will show up if we click the check compliance button)
At Purchase Scope section in this template, we chose option number two then it came out automatically information and tables that are link to PI Form f3 where the table L-1 Spacee Usage Type with last column from which we can see which space types are exempt from the requirements of some credits. These information had already been filled in the PI Form f3 at the beginning. However the information with that column doesnt show up here when it is loaded automatically in MR cr 2.1's template. Meanwhile if we click the check compliance section again, it doesnt show any red notice around that column either. Is this a hitch with this new version ( version 5) form? Or did we sth wrong in table L-1 Space Usage Type earlier in the PI Form f3 earlier? ( when we checked the compliance in PI Form f3 template where the table L-1 is located, it showed Y which means the information we filled in the table L-1 is correct.)
Did somebody here experience same situation as us?
we are grateful for any help or hints from you.
Thanks
hand dryers
(this question is for 2.1 electric-power equipment)
Does the use of an efficient hand dryer contribute to this or other credits?
The company claims contribution to credits of Energy performance, and solid waste management... Seems to me that for Energy performance is not applicable. But for electric power equipment could be..
I don't think an electric hand dryer would meet any of the credit criteria, i.e., there is no Energy Star standard for them—so no.
replacing gas-powered landscaping equipment
Does anyone have any experience counting landscaping equipment that "replaces conventional gas-powered equipment"? The footnote on p. 259 of the Ref. Guide includes landscaping equipment, but I'd like to confirm that a reel-mower (non-gas push lawn mower) and an electric weed wacker would count towards this credit.
Thank you.
Yes, those two items would absolutely count as "replacing conventional gas-powered equipment". Any manual equipment, including simple hand tools for gardening (or even hand weeding), should count as well.
Exemplary Performance - EITHER 2.1 or 2.2?
Just to confirm my understanding -
Is it correct that an exemplary performanceIn LEED, certain credits have established thresholds beyond basic credit achievement. Meeting these thresholds can earn additional points through Innovation in Design (ID) or Innovation in Operations (IO) points. As a general rule of thumb, ID credits for exemplary performance are awarded for doubling the credit requirements and/or achieving the next incremental percentage threshold. However, this rule varies on a case by case basis, so check the credit requirements. point can be met by meeting the 80% threshold for EITHER electric-powered equipment (MRc2.1) OR furniture (MRc2.2)?
Two EP points are not available here, right?
Correct, only one additional point can be earned for exemplary performanceIn LEED, certain credits have established thresholds beyond basic credit achievement. Meeting these thresholds can earn additional points through Innovation in Design (ID) or Innovation in Operations (IO) points. As a general rule of thumb, ID credits for exemplary performance are awarded for doubling the credit requirements and/or achieving the next incremental percentage threshold. However, this rule varies on a case by case basis, so check the credit requirements. and you can earn it for meeting the threshold for either MRc2.1 or MRc2.2.
What defines "purchased?"
I'm not trying to split a new hair here, but what constitutes "purchased" for the purposes of credits such as MRc2? Our projects are all government buildings with government tenants and when we "purchase" something, we order it and don't typically provide payment until after the item is received on-site.
So at what point do the MRc2-compliant durable goodsDurable goods have a useful life of 2 years or more and are replaced infrequently or may require capital program outlays. Examples include furniture, office equipment, appliances, external power adapters, televisions, and audiovisual equipment. fall under the term of being "purchased?" When they're ordered? When they are received and installed on-site (my inclination)? Or when the vendor/contractor received payment (most typically after the installation or reception of the product)? We want to avoid a situation in which we are provided tenant info on an item that is subsequently cancelled or refused on delivery or returned.
It's a good question, David. In my opinion, you can select any of the options you've listed above as long as you as 100% consistent throughout your documentation. I've worked on projects in the past where we used the date of the purchase order as our documented "date of purchase" with no problems.
The issue of items being returned is a bit trickier. The only suggestion I have is to choose the best methodology to record the "date of purchase" for your government tenants, track all purchases accordingly and then do a final audit of the documentation just before submitting the LEED application to remove any returned items. This way, you are documenting actual performance to the best of your abilities during the proscribed performance period.
Durable Goods Purchase
Could someone tell me if this would apply as a Durable Good purchase? My project building has a High Ropes climbing Tower - part of their team building/outreach program they offer as a service- located on the project site. LAst year they purchased large ALuminum plates which are affixed to the three tower poles to prevent people from climbing the tower during off-hours. I would like to count the ALuminum plates as a Durable GoodsDurable goods have a useful life of 2 years or more and are replaced infrequently or may require capital program outlays. Examples include furniture, office equipment, appliances, external power adapters, televisions, and audiovisual equipment. purchase. (1) Do you think that would meet the intent? (2) How do I document % recycled content of Aluminum? Is there a standard default % that I can use from a standards website instead of trying to track down where the machine shop purchased the Aluminum plate?
Janna,
Is the item you're describing considered furniture? If not, I don't think it applies to this credit.
I am not aware of any default value for aluminum, it’s preferable to provide manufacturer product data sheets specifying the recycled content.
GREENGUARD certified
Does GREENGUARD certified furniture count as a sustainable criteria? It is not listed in the reference guide (or errata) but it is a clear synergy with CI and NC.
I'd like to submit it as alternative compliance.
Does anyone have any experience with this strategy?
Hi Alyson,
Have you considered submitting an Innovation in Operations strategy stating that your project achieves sustainable purchases of at least 40% of total purchases of furniture (by cost) during the performance period that are Greenguard certified? This strategy is outlined in LEED InterpretationLEED Interpretations are official answers to technical inquiries about implementing LEED on a project. They help people understand how their projects can meet LEED requirements and provide clarity on existing options. LEED Interpretations are to be used by any project certifying under an applicable rating system. All project teams are required to adhere to all LEED Interpretations posted before their registration date. This also applies to other addenda. Adherence to rulings posted after a project registers is optional, but strongly encouraged. LEED Interpretations are published in a searchable database at usgbc.org. 5661 for NC projects. Although it hasn't been approved for EBOMEBOM is an acronym for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance, one of the LEED 2009 rating sytems. 2009, it isn't noted within the database that the ruling does NOT apply to projects using this rating system. It wouldn't hurt to try!
Hi Alyson, Id like to see how this went for you or if anyone else has submitted using Green Guard as an attribute.
Default Recycling Content
Is it possible to assume recycled content to be 25% postconsumer for steel comparable to New construction? Chairs or tables for example often have a steel content and nothing special is known about it.
Hi Ralf,
While there's no official ruling that EBOMEBOM is an acronym for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance, one of the LEED 2009 rating sytems. projects can use the NC default for steel recycled content, it's likely to be accepted in the review process since 25% is a conservative estimate for this type of material. If that feels like too much uncertainty, it may be worth it to spend some time asking the manufacturer to confirm the actual level of recycled content. Check out the last FAQ in the Bird's Eye View tab for more info.
EPEAT?
I see where EPEAT is listed as a resource in the LEED guide but where in the guidance does it say that EPEAT-rated electronics comply with the sustainable purchasing criteria? I only see that Energy Star and items replacing conventional gas power qualify...I am paranoid that I have a horribly old version of the EB:O&M guidance and am confused that this site states "This means that a product that has earned any level of EPEAT rating allows you to claim two sustainability criteria and earn double credit under MRc2, for Energy Star and EPEAT."
Thanks
The criteria based on EPEAT compliance is mentioned in the "Implementation" section of the MRc2 Reference Guide Language, but not much detail is given. It is also listed as a qualifying criteria on the MRc2 Credit Form in LEED Online, which is the best indicator of its inclusion in the credit criteria. It is always a good idea to review the LEED Credit Forms early in a certification project, as they are the most reliable summary of the documentation requirements for all prerequisites and credits.
ACP Regional Materials Calculator
In the new ACP Documentation Guidance for Projects outside the U.S. (October 2011) they say, you should upload the completed "ACP Regional Materials Calculator". Does anyone know where I can find this calculator?
Thank you.
Severin, it's located on USGBC.org under LEED Resources.
FEQ certified wood furniture
I'm looking for FSCIndependent, third-party verification that forest products are produced and sold based on a set of criteria for forest management and chain-of-custody controls developed by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), an international nonprofit organization. FSC criteria for certifying forests around the world address forest management, legal issues, indigenous rights, labor rights, multiple benefits, and environmental impacts.-certified patio furniture and having a bit of trouble. I ran into a comapny called "Reforest Teak" and they have furniture that is First European Quality (FEQ) grade teak. Is this possibly a cerfitication that LEED would recognize or is LEED strictly FSC?
Samantha, LEED is strictly FSCIndependent, third-party verification that forest products are produced and sold based on a set of criteria for forest management and chain-of-custody controls developed by the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC), an international nonprofit organization. FSC criteria for certifying forests around the world address forest management, legal issues, indigenous rights, labor rights, multiple benefits, and environmental impacts.. There has been a ton of debate about this, and thus far USGBC has been squarely behind FSC.
What qualifies to show energy star label??
We submitted for review and comments came back on our electronics portion of this credit for HP Elitebook 8450p and 2740p machines that do have energy star label. Unfortunately the cut sheets (and apparently all online documentation) only says "Energy Star qualified" or "certified" for certain models, which they deem insufficient.
Without being able to find documentation that actually says "Energy Star Labeled" for these items what will be sufficient documentation for them do you suppose?
I have a photo of one of each item with the energy star label on it but I don't think they'll take that.
The Technical Advice in the review comments states: "Please provide documentation from product manufacturers or supplieers that verifies the models purchased and that the equipment is ENERGY STAR labeled."
HP is impossible to get assistance for this with and I'm working with our vendor that we purchased them from but would like to give any direction to them possible.
Any help is appreciated.
Actually Jennifer, I think submitting pictures along with the material you already gave GBCI, as well as a narrative explaining that you've been stonewalled by HP and struck out with the vendor, should be plenty. If that ENERGY STAR label is on the computer, and the picture makes it clear that I'm looking at the same computer you've listed in your table, that really should be enough. Good luck with it - I think you've got a strong case.
Dan
Vendor Letter Sample/Template?
I may be mistaken, but I thought I saw in the Doc Toolkit some time ago that there was a template/sample available to send to vendors from whom our client makes purchases, and which would assist in their pursuit of the related purchasing credits. Anyone?
Elliot, I think the tracking form shown above in the Doc Toolkit assists in that regard. That form can be given to vendors who make purchases that they need to track.
Hand Dryers- Are they Considered Durable Goods?
We are purchasing hand dryers to eliminate paper waste, but since there are no EnergyStar rated hand dryers, would this count against us for our durable goodsDurable goods have a useful life of 2 years or more and are replaced infrequently or may require capital program outlays. Examples include furniture, office equipment, appliances, external power adapters, televisions, and audiovisual equipment. purchasing the performance period? I thought I had read that mechanical or electrical systems permanently attached or hard wired to the building were not counted as a durable goods purchase. For example, if we install a packaged HVAC unit on the roof, would this be counted as a durable good purchase.
Agreed Geoffrey - those hand dryers would be considered mechanical equipment and excluded from EBOMEBOM is an acronym for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance, one of the LEED 2009 rating sytems..
Non-Energy Star Rated Products
How do you count products that are not rated by ENERGY STAR, like microwave ovens? Can you exempt them entirely from the total cost of durable goodsDurable goods have a useful life of 2 years or more and are replaced infrequently or may require capital program outlays. Examples include furniture, office equipment, appliances, external power adapters, televisions, and audiovisual equipment.? As they cannot be ENERGY STAR rated, it seems unfair to have to count them in the total costs, but not be able to have them help a project qualify for this credit.
That's a good question, Matthew. At first blush, I'd say that you would be required to count the cost of those items in your overall cost of goods purchased during the performance period. It hasn't come up very often in the past, so I can't say for sure whether GBCI would agree with you if you wrote a narrative explaining why you excluded the purchase entirely. I'd say your best bet would be to send this question to GBCI's customer service via LEED Online and see what they say.
This is a question that's never really been definitively answered, and I'd love to hear what GBCI says about it. Risking Jason's enduring wrath, I'll say that my take is that you can exclude them - I just don't see how there is any sustainability benefit to including a product that isn't eligible for the relevant criteria. If the intent of the credit is to promote energy efficient products, penalizing you for purchasing something with no clearly-identified alternative doesn't really benefit anyone. Better to exclude it and focus on the choices at hand. The one alternative I would recommend would be trying to research microwave ovens to see if there is a way to identify more or less efficient models. If you can document that the ovens you purchased were similar to Energy Star in terms of their performance relative to conventional microwaves, I think that would be a sure-fire winning argument. Hope that helps.
Dan
In Kind Donations?
Hi,
I work for a non-profit attempting to get this credit, and we had an interior design company donate two very nice nearly-new chairs amounting to $700 each. Do these count towards the credit since we are technically not paying for them?
This is the environmental profile for the chairs: http://www.steelcase.com/en/company/sustainability/documents/peps/jenny%...
Yes, you would count these as meeting the "Salvaged Material" criteria and use the replacement value of $700 as the cost.
Energy Star Partner Program
US EPA Energy Star has a program called, Energy Star Partner Program. Basically they have the same Energy Star program in US, and the participated partner program will run the same test method and standard to it;s local manufacturer product which interested to get their product certified.
Our local EPA is participated into this program , and i wonder, local EPA energy star rated products could contribute weight to LEED credit?
I emailed to USEPA and they mention that, is all depend on USGBC decision.
is anyone could help?
I think this should work. However, as they said, it's up to USGBC. I would ask them if you have any doubt.
Refurbished Electronics
Has anyone used refurbished IT equipment towards the sustainable purchasing requirement? Does it need to have at least 70% reused parts to meet the salvaged material requirement? Is it even possible to get that information?
Alternatively, is purchasing refurbished equipment an innovative enough strategy to pursue an IO credit?
Katie, I'm not sure this will fly, given that "refurbished" is considered a sustainable attribute for furniture, not electronics, under the credit language. Also, could encouraging use of refurbished IT equipment encourage use of older, less-effiicient equipment?
If you think you can overcome these concerns then maybe it's worth a shot. I would problably just document that the unit is refurbished from offsite, which is something the vendor should be able to provide documentation for.
In any case, I don't think this would qualify under IOc1, since if it's going to be allowed, it's covered here. Unless you want to get more ambitious and do some kind of "comprehensive electronics impact reduction plan" that goes well beyond the idea of this credit.
Avoiding buying new goods?
Is there any way to make a case for an avoidance of new purchases? Can this be calculated toward this credit?
For example, If the owner repurposes some old chairs they had in storage with the intention of avoiding buying new chairs, can this be documented? What if they put new fabric or paint on something? It seems I could count the 'cost' as the cost for new fabric/painting... but it would diminish the 'avoided value' that a new chair would be.
My thought is to take the cost of an equivalent new chair and count that as a 'purchase', and say that the chair is 100% salvaged on or off-site. Does this seem like a reasonable approach?
This is a good question, Cara - the issue of "salvaged" furniture can be tricky within the LEED context. First off, it is possible to count salvaged furniture towards the credit threshold by determining the "replacement cost" of a comparable piece of furniture. However, your example of using chairs that had been in storage is not guaranteed to earn compliance. LEED doesn't want to encourage project teams to move old chairs from one floor of the project building to another floor and count it as salvaged. The concept of "salvaged" material makes a lot more sense in the NC context, where you can deconstruct a steel wall frame and then use the salvaged steel to create an interesting architectural feature on the newly built wall; the concept just doesn't translate as well to EBOMEBOM is an acronym for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance, one of the LEED 2009 rating sytems.. The best example I can give you of a piece of furniture that would count as salvaged in EBOM is the following: picture an old chair made of conventional materials with absolutely nothing sustainable about it. It's nice, but it's old and the owner gets rid of it by donating it to an antiques store. You then go and buy this chair to be used in an office of your project building. Since it's from a resale shop, you can consider it 100% salvaged, even though when it was made in 1970, it was built using virgin materials. Make sense?
To follow up on Jason's (absolutely accurate) comment, in my experience the most common type of LEED-compliant furniture salvage is in institutional settings where furniture, when permanently removed from a building, is placed in long-term storage and made available to other buildings within the institution. Most large universities have a warehouse where old desks, filing cabinets, etc... are kept for years at a time until a need pops up. This is in contrast, as Jason notes, to a situation where furniture is temporarily removed from a building while a renovation takes place and then returned, or alternately moved directly from one building to another. Hope that helps.
vehicles
The LEED guidebook (table 1 of MRc1 showing "ongoing consumablesOngoing consumables have a low cost per unit and are regularly used and replaced in the course of business. Examples include paper, toner cartridges, binders, batteries, and desk accessories." and "durable goodsDurable goods have a useful life of 2 years or more and are replaced infrequently or may require capital program outlays. Examples include furniture, office equipment, appliances, external power adapters, televisions, and audiovisual equipment.") actually includes vehicles. Will purchase of electric vehicles count for this credit?
This definitely seems like it would qualify under the electric equipment portion of this credit.
Sorry to revert; I need to clarify a few more items:
1) Would hybrid vehicles (not purely electric vehicles) qualify for this credit?
2) Do I include conventional (gas powered) vehicles purchased within the performance period in the template for computation of total amount of purchases?
Pabs, if you're going to include purchased vehicles in your durable goodsDurable goods have a useful life of 2 years or more and are replaced infrequently or may require capital program outlays. Examples include furniture, office equipment, appliances, external power adapters, televisions, and audiovisual equipment. calculations, then you would have to include all vehicles purchased in your calculations, in order to show that you meet the credit threshold.
I would say you could make an argument that hybrid vehicles qualify, but because they are gasoline-powered with electric-assist, it's not a sure thing they would qualify. Might be up to the reviewer.
Carpet
Where does carpet fit in? Carpet isn't listed, but is certainly can be a durable good. I'm wokring on an NCv2.2 project and considering using this credit as a basis for an ID credit. We are looking into carpet that is NSF 140 Platinum certified & SCS certified.
Have you looked at MRc3: Sustainable Purchasing—Facility Alterations and Additions? Seems like carpet is a more natural fit there, although I supposed one could argue that it's similar to furniture, a durable good, in some respects.
I have an EBOMEBOM is an acronym for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance, one of the LEED 2009 rating sytems. project review report from GBC indicating that carpet is considered a base-building item. Therefore, it cannot be included in this credit table.
Desk Lamps
When buying desk lamps, would having Energy Star rated light bulbs be sufficient enough? Or do the actual lamps have to be Energy Star rated?
Hi Reynaldo, lamp purchases (the actual bulbs) are dealt with separately under the Reduced Mercury in Lighting credit. According to the Energy Star web site, labeled desk lamps are available, and my opinion is that you would need a label on the actual fixture in order to claim compliance with the criteria for this credit. The bulbs don't really factor into this credit at all.
What about leased products?
Many companies lease their computers - how do leased durable goodsDurable goods have a useful life of 2 years or more and are replaced infrequently or may require capital program outlays. Examples include furniture, office equipment, appliances, external power adapters, televisions, and audiovisual equipment. fit in with MRc2?
In past projects, teams have successfully incorporated leased goods into their purchase calculations by including any costs associated with the lease that were incurred during the performance period. So, if you pay upfront for the entire lease period and that payment also falls in the performance period, you include it all. Or, if you make regular payments on the lease (say monthly), you would include the amount for associated with the months of the performance period.
Now how would this compare to the solid waste end of this question? End of use for leased computers. can you just document that you lease equipment therefore not able to influence what happens to it at the end of its use?
Nope, when you return leased computers to the manufacturer at the end of the lease, you can claim that as a form of recycling and include the replacement cost of the equipment in your calculations for MRc8.
I've always felt a little strange about this. It seems to me that the nature of leasing is such that it absolves the project of responsibility for disposal - I'm not sure that is something EBOMEBOM is an acronym for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance, one of the LEED 2009 rating sytems. should be rewarding/encouraging. If the options are allowing inclusion of $X of leased computers as 'recycled' even though those computers may end up in landfills vs simply excluding leased equipment from the calculation (as they are not technically a 'purchase' this seems quite reasonable), I think the latter is more consistent with credit intent.
Good point, Dan - I hope that type of revision makes its way into the 2012 language. For now though, this is viable option for project teams, even if it is a bit of a loophole.
If a company leases all copiers and multifunction devices through a third-party vendor, and the lease agreement charges for the equipment lease and toner on a cost-per-click basis, how can project teams successfully document this for MRc2? Is tracking of leased equipment a requirement of LEED EBOMEBOM is an acronym for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance, one of the LEED 2009 rating sytems. under the materials and resources purchasing credits?
Start a new LEED comment thread