NC v2.2 MRc4: Recycled Content

Tim, if you include one piece of furniture you need to include them all in your calculations. LEED doesn't want you cherry-picking furniture with green attributes to beef up your calculations.

We break out the individual components in a concrete mix and know that others do as well.

I don't know about other project teams but door hardware in general is such a small contributor to the LEED calculations that we do not normally even track it. The only time it is, is if the contractor gets all the information from the supplier and we're going 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.. It does not occur often. Because I'm so used to not including electrical components, I would not include electrical door hardware components in the credit calculations.

Based on what I know about micro silica (which is not much, but this Wikipedia entry helps), I'm not sure micro silica is recycled. It sounds more like a normal product of mining/extraction operations.

I believer silica fume used for concrete is an industrial by-product much like fly ash and slag. "Silica fume, also known as microsilica, is a byproduct of the reduction of high-purity quartz with coal in electric furnaces in the production of silicon and ferrosilicon alloys." http://www.fhwa.dot.gov/infrastructure/materialsgrp/silica.htm
I haven't seen it included in the contractor MRc4 submittals but I had assumed this was because it is not used in significant proportion -- it is much more expensive than fly ash and slag -- and concrete is usually treated as an assembly where % mass is used for recycled content value of the assembly.
I would very much like to know if USGBC sees silica fume otherwise, however, so I don't try to include it if the contractor provides its proportion on future projects.

Based on descriptions I'm finding on BuildingGreen.com and elsewhere, I don't see any reason that silica fume wouldn't be considered a preconsumer recycled material. I think you're safe there.

And it can count for more than you may realize--in concrete you're allowed to calculate the amount of cement substitutes as a fraction by mass of just the cementitious ingredients in the mix--in effect, treating them as if the cemetitious parts are a separate product from the aggregates (this is explained in the Reference Guide in more detail).

Thanks Nadav! I'm assuming the aggregates still need to be included as separate line items? Even so, that does help. But how about the admixtures? After to the cementitious materials, I've been told the admixtures are next most expensive. And acheiving high cement replacement is nearly impossible without the admixtures. However, the quantity used is so small, it isn't usually included in the concrete mix breakdown by mass. But I would understand if allowing us to exclude admixtures (and aggregate?) is meant to encourage greater use of SCM's.

Hi Frances, I'm not sure what "line items" you're referring to. In a typical spreadsheet there is a line item for the overall product or material (in this case, concrete), and then a way show the % of that material that is post-consumerWaste material generated by households or by commercial, industrial and institutional facilities in their role as end-users of the product, which can no longer be used for its intended purpose. This includes returns of materials from the distribution chain (source: ISO 14021). Examples of this category include construction and demolition debris, materials collected through curbside and drop-off recycling programs, broken pallets (if from a pallet refurbishing company, not a pallet-making company), discarded products (e.g., furniture, cabinetry and decking) and urban maintenance waste (e.g., leaves, grass clippings, tree trimmings, etc.)., pre-consumer, regional, etc. 

In the case of concrete, you can create a separate line item for "cementitious materials" and show the dollar cost and % recycled just of those. 

You can, if you like, also create another line item for the concrete minus those materials, and show any fraction of the aggregates that are regional and/or recycled. 

Does that help?

Yes Nadav. I'm sorry, I was thinking in terms of the Actual Cost option and wasn't making that clear. Not sure we will go this route, but we are exploring it in parallel for a particular project. Thanks again, I'm clear now!

I handling G+70 storey building in Abu Dhabi ,which is going to achieve LEED Gold rating from USGBC. In line the contractor is using precast concrete in some areas. The precast concrete supplier clearly said not using GGBS for the considering pre consumer recycled content and also they asked what is the alternative raw material instead of GGBS(Ground-granulated blast-furnace slag ). Can any one help me to guide the contractor and precast supplier to achieve MRc4-Recycled Content credit

Mohamed, I would like to offer advice here, but your question seems to hinge on detailed knowledge of concrete, and I can't offer that. Unless perhaps I'm not understanding the question...?

There are various options for replacing the usuall ingredients in concrete with recycled-content alternatives, but in a 70-story building the engineers will be very cautious about doing anything to the mix that could introduce uncertainty about strength and curing time. 

If you have a subscription to Environmental Building News (or want to try one for a month) you can read our recent article: "Reducing Environmental Impacts of Cement and Concrete" that describes many of the options. 

Please check the following link & see the section MRc4.

http://www.cement.org/buildings/green_leed.asp

IT says "Supplementary cementitious materials, such as fly ash, silica fume, and slag cement are considered pre-consumer".

Meloy, you need to show on the template what the source of information is, but you aren't required to upload invoices, etc.

For NCv2.2, do not upload invoices if you are using the 45% default. Your honesty in enough for now until unless you get a clarification or an audit. For MRc4, if you are using the actual material cost, you should have invoices ready to shipped when asked. To avoid doubts during review, upload a spreadsheet with your material list & cost that (I guess) you already have.

Dear Meloy
For the NCv2.2-MRc4 LEED submittal, if you are considering the actual material cost ,here below is supporting documents ,which we need to upload according to my knowledge.
1. Total material cost( In BOQ, consider only Division 2 to 10)
2. Provide the cost details which are the materials you have considered for the credit.
3. provide the material technical specification showing the pre and post consumer recycled content value. For example 1- concrete,provide the concrete mix design
example 2- Steel provide the manufacture pre and post consumer recycled content value or default valu of steel.

Hi Katie,

No, that's not how it works. For the purposes of the calculation, it doesn't matter that the total recycled content is 90%, what matters is what the post-consumerWaste material generated by households or by commercial, industrial and institutional facilities in their role as end-users of the product, which can no longer be used for its intended purpose. This includes returns of materials from the distribution chain (source: ISO 14021). Examples of this category include construction and demolition debris, materials collected through curbside and drop-off recycling programs, broken pallets (if from a pallet refurbishing company, not a pallet-making company), discarded products (e.g., furniture, cabinetry and decking) and urban maintenance waste (e.g., leaves, grass clippings, tree trimmings, etc.). and pre-consumer recycled content are. 

For example, if the rebar is 20% post consumer and 70% preconsumer recycled, the calculation would be ($10,000 x 20%) + ($10,000 x 70% x 0.5) = $5,500 in recycled content value. 

Nadav,

so let me make sure I'm understanding this correctly.

If the rebar is used by itself (i.e. not a component of something else) then the pre- and post-consumerWaste material generated by households or by commercial, industrial and institutional facilities in their role as end-users of the product, which can no longer be used for its intended purpose. This includes returns of materials from the distribution chain (source: ISO 14021). Examples of this category include construction and demolition debris, materials collected through curbside and drop-off recycling programs, broken pallets (if from a pallet refurbishing company, not a pallet-making company), discarded products (e.g., furniture, cabinetry and decking) and urban maintenance waste (e.g., leaves, grass clippings, tree trimmings, etc.). %'s can be calculated from 100% of the cost of the rebar?

If the rebar is a component of something then the pre- and post- %'s can only be calculated as that portion of the component that is rebar?

Ignoring the fact that in both cases the rebar is not 100% recycled material?

thanks.

Hi Katie, the description of the recycled content of the rebar is important.

Nadev is correct, and if you add up the dollar value of his examples; post ($2,000) and pre ($7,000) that equals $9,000. So the $1,000 or 10% or virgin material has been accounted for and is not included as recycled content.

But in some cases the manufacturer will describe the recycled content as follows.

1.) The total recycled content of x-product is 50% by weight
2.) Of that recycled content 40% is pre-consumer and 60% is post-consumerWaste material generated by households or by commercial, industrial and institutional facilities in their role as end-users of the product, which can no longer be used for its intended purpose. This includes returns of materials from the distribution chain (source: ISO 14021). Examples of this category include construction and demolition debris, materials collected through curbside and drop-off recycling programs, broken pallets (if from a pallet refurbishing company, not a pallet-making company), discarded products (e.g., furniture, cabinetry and decking) and urban maintenance waste (e.g., leaves, grass clippings, tree trimmings, etc.)..

In this case, you should take 50% of the dollar value before running the rest of the standard calculation.

So if the product cost is still $10,000 then the recycled content value would be:
($5,000*40%*0.5 +$5,000*60%) = $4,000

Or another way
($10,000 *20%*.5 +$10,000*30%) = $4,000

Under version 2.2, the threshold 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. for MRc4 is 30%, but under NC version 2.1 it was 15%.

Michelle, Read the Calculations section again in the Reference Guide. You use the 45% default only if you are not using the actual materials costs for Div 2 through 10. Your project has a choice. Once you choose, that number becomes the denominator. So if you have a project that costs 1 million dollars and want the default total then you use 450,000 dollars in the denominator. The numerator is the total recycled content value. So only materials that have recycled content are used. There is no reason to track every materials on a project.

Susan is right on. Michelle, since you're a LEEDuser member I also want to mention that you can click on the Checklists tab above and get a walk-through on the steps to document this credit.

There is a bit of confusion on our project regarding this. The LEED for Schools 2007 Version Reference Guide we are using says:

"Total Material Cost may be derived by multiplying the total construction cost (hard costs for CSI MasterFormat 1995 Divisions 2-10 only) by 0.45. Alternately, the Total Materials Cost may be a tally of the actual materials cost (CSI MasterFormat 1995 Divisions 2-10 only) from the project Schedule of Values or similar document."

Our question is on the first part of this description. If we use the total construction cost/ default construction cost method, are we to use only CSI MasterFormat 1995 Divisions 2-10 but include labor as the associated parenthetical could suggest or are we to use the total project cost for all divisions including labor when multiplying by .45?

Thank you in advance for any clarification you can provide.

If you wish to use the default value, you take the total costs for Division 2 - 10 that the contractor provides through the schedule of values. It should be an all inclusive number. That figure is the one you multiply by .45. It will have the general contractor's mark up as well as the sub contractors labor and material costs in there as well.

Kelly, I think you would have to assume the lowest number within the range.

The mid-range number doesn't seem appropriate, because we don't know if that is the average recycled content amount. Based on the info you have at this point, they might do 68% almost all of the time, and occasionally do 98%—in which case the mid-range would not be representative.

I think it's totally appropriate to not include concrete in the template (delete it entirely) but still to include one line item that is for Steel Rebar and another line item for Steel Mesh. You would then include only the material cost for those steel items and whatever percentages recycled content they have.

Assembly items are discussed in the LEED Ref. Guide in MRc4 under "Calculating Assembly Recycled ContentAssembly recycled content is the percentage of material in a product that is either postconsumer or preconsumer recycled content. It is determined by dividing the weight of the recycled content by the overall weight of the assembly." (NCv2.2 3rd Ed. pg. 272) -- for whatever the description is worth. (It does NOT clarify what must be considered an assembly or not.)

LeeAnn, it depends on what CSI divisions they fall into, but generally plumbing and mechanical are excluded.

Daniela, LEED looks at these components in terms of the CSI division that they fall into. All of the items you mentioned do fall into plumbing components, however.

You could list them separately but if you don't have enough space you could upload an additional document where they are summed up and then only enter the summary information on the template (with a note to see add. doc.). (List each material in the concrete separately on the additional document and then do the calculations just like they are done on the template to figure out what summary numbers to enter on the template.)

Lauren, there's been some discussion of this question on the 2009 MRc4 forum—I would check this out. In short, we're skeptical of recycled water claims, but one could try to submit it if it felt valid and important.

http://www.leeduser.com/credit/NC-2009/MRc4#comment-2720

You'll find a good explanation of the calculation method in the "Checklists" section of this credit page in the Design Development section. In short, yes, use the weight breakdown as your % of product cost.

Hi Jarrod,

If you're going with the "45% of total cost" option, rather than itemizing materials, you have to include labor in those costs. That why we advise the the "Checklist" above that "A project that is renovating an existing building may have
low material and high labor costs, so it might be better to use the
actual budget instead of the default approach."

The total costs only apply to the same MasterFormat divisions that define the materials you're including, however. It looks like MasterFormat 95 (which is the basis for LEED-NC 2.2's divisions) allows you to specify demolition in either Division 1 or Division 2. If you specify in Division 1 you should be ok.

Most likely you're using MasterFormat 2004, which includes demolition in Division 2. But that version of MasterFormat is used newer versions of LEED that don't include Division 2, so you should be OK on that front. I'd just make a point of noting for reviewers that the parts of MF 2004 Division 2 that include demolition are associated with the older Division 1, and therefore needn't be included in your calcs.

How's that for a convoluted answer? Anyone else have advice for Jarrod?

I can't think of any reason that they wouldn't be included.

Default materials value is 45% of the construction cost (labor + materials) for MasterFormat 95 Divisions 2-10.

Is there anyone who has an idea on the specifics of plumbing (fire sprinkler system) use in credit MR4!

Hi Tony, I'm not sure what you're looking at. In my NC 2.2 Reference Guide, on page 235, there is a Table 2: MR Credit Metrics. It shows clearly that Plumbing mat NOT be included in MRc3-7. Only furniture can optionally be included. Are you seeing something else? (There were a few editions of this book, so page numbers may have changed slightly.)

Sprinkler piping, however, is listed in MasterFormat 95 Division 13 (Divison 21 in the newer MasterFormat 2004), and that puts it in kind of a netherworld. In the past Divisions that were not specifically excluded could be included at the team's option, but I suspect the current reviewers may not be applying the rules that way. Anyone else have recent experience on this?

On my page NCv2.2 page 235 it lists that Plumbing and Furniture/Furnishings can be included with Div. 2-10 if done consistently in Div 3-7.

Like you mentioned this is probably an edition issue. Does anyone have any insight on which version is applicable or what date does an addenda clarify this? I am submitting a project and need information ASAP

Tony, which edition of the reference guide are you looking at? Also, when was your project registered?

Just found that my edition is 1st edition. I think you've helped answer my question. My project is recently registered so I don't think First Edition (2005) will apply.

Agreed. I would bet that if you check the v2.2 errata on USGBC's website you would see this listed for first edition reference guides.

Sounds like the manufacturer is giving you faulty information. The same piece of material can't be both pre-consumer AND post-consumerWaste material generated by households or by commercial, industrial and institutional facilities in their role as end-users of the product, which can no longer be used for its intended purpose. This includes returns of materials from the distribution chain (source: ISO 14021). Examples of this category include construction and demolition debris, materials collected through curbside and drop-off recycling programs, broken pallets (if from a pallet refurbishing company, not a pallet-making company), discarded products (e.g., furniture, cabinetry and decking) and urban maintenance waste (e.g., leaves, grass clippings, tree trimmings, etc.)., but that's what the % figures you quote would require.

Both myself and the manufacturer is new to this, how can I elaborate better to lead them to get me the correct figures?

You need the following:

1) Percentage of material that is pre-consumer recycled content.

2) Percentage of material that is post-consumerWaste material generated by households or by commercial, industrial and institutional facilities in their role as end-users of the product, which can no longer be used for its intended purpose. This includes returns of materials from the distribution chain (source: ISO 14021). Examples of this category include construction and demolition debris, materials collected through curbside and drop-off recycling programs, broken pallets (if from a pallet refurbishing company, not a pallet-making company), discarded products (e.g., furniture, cabinetry and decking) and urban maintenance waste (e.g., leaves, grass clippings, tree trimmings, etc.). recycled content.

Simply put, post-consumer content is reclaimed from waste streams. Pre-consumer content is reclaimed from manufacturering processes.

Once you have that information, you can enter it in the LEED Online form to calculate its contribution to MRc4.

Div. 13 is excluded from the MR materials budget. You would have to justify its inclusion in another section, or exclude it.

PS, do I also need to separate cabinet hardware in the same manner or can that be incidental to the casework cost?

Gary, if you go to www.assaabloydss.com/Sustainability I have many of our door hardware companies LEED qualification sheets listed. Each of these gives recycled content for major brands like Sargent, Corbin-Russwin, Norton, etc.

Gary, I would assume the worst case and enter it as pre-consumer content.

If you can get an accurate recycled content value lumping together the casework and hardware, that's fine.

Keep in mind that it's possible these items are of low relative value to your materials budget, and would not be the place I would start looking to earn the credit. I would start with bigger-ticket items.