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What’s considered “regional”?
Regional materials are those that are extracted, harvested, and manufactured within 500 miles (as the crow flies) of your project site.
You may already be aware of the materials that are produced in your region, and in some areas this is easy—it’s no surprise, for example, that the town of Gypsum, Colorado, extracts the raw materials to make drywall, and projects within 500 miles of Gypsum would be wise to source their drywall from there.
Five hundred miles is a long way and you might be surprised how much is extracted and produced in your region. Some coastal or remote regions, or those with less of a manufacturing base, may not find it worthwhile to pursue this credit, however.
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Begin researching products early—this...
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89 Comments
Furniture - Regional Calculation
We have reused a fair amount of furniture on our project. The reused furniture is from the previous office space which is with in 500 miles to the new project space. Can we account the furniture as 100% manufactured regionally?
You cannot count reused materials/furniture towards this credit. It must be manufactured new to the project. Also, I would not consider it 'manufactured within 500 miles' merely because it is coming from the old office that is within that radius.
Since you are doing NC, you know that furniture doesn't need to be counted in the MR credits, right? And if they are, they need to be across all MR credits (recycled content, 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., etc). But that is for new stuff.
I would try to use this as an ID credit- because it sounds like you might be able to meet CI MRc3.2- Materials Reuse.
Thanks Valerie. We are actually pursuing LEED CI and we have attempted LEED MRc3.2 as the % of furniture reused was more than 30%.
Oh, you are posting in the NC credit, so I automatically assumed that is what you are pursuing for your project. Carry on!
Sheela, please post your question under our LEED-CI MRc3.2 forum. Thanks.
Documentation Requirements for MRc5 v2.2
The v2.2 Reference Guide (and i have checked the errate as well) does not say that you must attach documentation in the form of receipts, letters, etc. explaining the distance between the project and manufacturer. And I have seen LEED AP's state that it is not required, but I want to be certain. We are not trying to play games, but we lack some documentation now and will have to do some serious digging to obtain it. Thanks.
Dave, it's my understanding that it's enough to give the distances—you don't need to upload documentation of that.
Finishing of Aluminum
Hello,
I have recently supplied a large amount of aluminum for a sports arena and was wondering if anodizing of the material would be considered the last point of manufacture for the product.
The raw mateiral was harvested and produced outside of the 500 mile radius from the site. We processed the raw material into aluminum mesh outside of the 500 mile radius as well.
The last process was anodizing the material which occoured very close to the site. Can I say the product was manufactured within the 500 mile radius?
Phillip, this is a bit of a gray area, in my opinion, because while LEED does break down products into ingredients as far as extraction, I have seen less guidance on how it handles multiple points of manufacturing for one product.
However, I would fall back on a common-sense understanding here, and say that the clear answer is that the product was largely manufactured outside the radius and should not be counted.
LEED consists of a lot of very specific rules, but when those rules are unclear we have to keep the intent in mind.
Manufacturing and extraction location clarification
Keep in mind that LEED defines “manufacturing location” as “the point of FINAL ASSEMBLY.”
So the structural steel fabricators are within 500 miles of the project site. Their suppliers are within 500 miles of the project site as well. The problem lies in where the suppliers get their raw materials. A percentage of the raw materials comes from recycled material and a percentage of the raw material are extracted from all over the world. Does the steel qualify for regional content then? Am I correct when I state the fabricators as the point of manufacture and the suppliers as the point of extraction?
Kelvin, the raw material would not qualify, but for the recycled material you could arguably count the supplier as the extraction location, according to LEED. There is more detail on this latter issue in the Bird's Eye View tab above.
Assembled product values
I have two issues that need clarification. Perhaps someone can help... These relate to reporting and the valuation of materials within a casework assembly.
1. True? When considering an assembly using other manufactured assemblies (ex. a cabinet with hinges) the final manufacturing location (point of sale) is the "extraction" point. Does this hold true for casework with buyout solid surfacing or trim/hardwood?
2. In a project containing casework with solid surfacing: how would the overall weight/material ratio be calculated? Total project solid surfacing against total casework materials? What if you have several vanities and a reception desk? The solid surfacing would massively scew the weight ratio.
Elizabeth, I have never heard that the manufacturing location for anything, assembly or not, can be called the extraction location, except in some cases when you're talking about recycled content.
I'm not totally understanding your question #2. What you want to do is divide the assembly up by weight and count each material individually as far as regionality, etc. goes.
Yes, I see.
I simply don't understand where you draw the line in itemizing materials. I wouldn't be able to disclose the "extraction point" of the components of a hinge, for example. So its manufacturing location has to be its extraction point.
This leads me to ask, is the assembled value of the casework irrelevant?
Hi Elizabeth,
There is a lot more guidance on these issues in the content area of the website--available to premium members. It might be worth investing the $9.95 for a month's access to check that out.
To address your question, generally, project teams try to achieve this credit using bulk materials: aggregate, structural steel, etc. It's often not feasible, as you point out, to figure out extraction points for more complex, manufactured materials.
If you do know the extraction point for your wood, however, but not for the other materials in the product, you can separate those on a mass basis.
I hope this helps! Nadav
Did not receive MRc5.2
We just received our first review and need to clarify on some credits. I noticed we received (1) point for MRc5.1 but we did not receive MRc5.2. Our data template shows that our project had 41% of its materials extracted/manufactured within 500 miles of the site. That is more than enough for MRc5.2. It shows no clarification needed for the credit. How do we go about clearing up this discrepancy? It doesn't make sense for us to have to pay for an appeal, when it appears to be a mistake on their part.
You can respond directly via email to the LEED review team assigned to your project if you have previous correspondence with them and have their email.
You can also use this link:
http://www.gbci.org/org-nav/contact/Contact-Us/Project-Certification-Que...
Forgot the rest of my response.... my review team accidentally denied a credit even though we met all criteria and documentation. I just politely emailed them and asked them to change the status on the credit because it appeared to be incorrect. They did it quickly once they realized their mistake. If you have the review team email addy, it is faster to take care of it that way than through the link above. Good luck.
Online distance calculators
Where do i find online distance calculators for recycling credits? If the land distance between manufacturer and project site is more than 500 miles but air miles is close to 300 miles. Can we consider air miles?
LEED uses radial miles and not road miles for the credit. There are a number of online distance calculators you can use. I believe that there is a thread on one of the 2009 forums. Personally, I've used a variety of resource including Google maps. For quick and easy answers, I use Free Map Tools but it has a few quirks.
We allso have some useful calculators posted above in the Resources tab.
Trees and Plantings
Trees and plantings fall under CSI division 2, so I assume I can use them towards my regional credits since its cost is counting against us in the MR recycled and regional credits. We have plantings that were grown in our regional area, so am I right in assuming I can count it towards a regional item?
I am doing the same thing on my current project. So I agree with your logic. Can anyone confirm this is acceptable?
Yes, this is corect. It's al by CSI divisions.
Regional Documentation
I often get get Google maps or Mapquest including driving directions as a form of regional back up from my contractors. I do not feel that this is sufficient back up as it can be easily fabricated, does not determine distance "in a straight line" and does not come from the manufacturer. But they respond saying it has been sufficient for other LEED projects. As anyone else submitted these maps to USGBC and had them accepted?
I have had projects in which we submit the mapquest maps and/or just documentation from the manufacturer stating the mileage to the project site and they have passed. I have recently learned that for version 2.2 you don't even need to provide cut sheets to back up your data because they don't specifically request it in the manual....that may be something to consider as well. I think if you have the back up data in case they do audit the credit, the maps should suffice.
Furniture used for an ID credit
We are using LEED-CI EQc4.5 - low emitting furniture as an ID credit for a university dorm project. Do we need to include that furniture in all the materials credit tallies as well?
First I thought we would, which could make us lose the regional credit 2nd point (not much furniture produced w/in 500 miles of here) but then again, EQ is a completely different category.......
Any advice?
Susan, I recall hearing recently from a project team that was told by GBCI that they had to include furniture throughout, in a situation like this. It seems like the most consistent, thorough method.
I am actually submitting a CIRCredit Interpretation Ruling. Used by design team members experiencing difficulties in the application of a LEED prerequisite or credit to a project. Typically, difficulties arise when specific issues are not directly addressed by LEED information/guide on this today because we were denied this credit. The IEQ credits and the MR credits have nothing to do with each other. In CI, nowhere in IEQc4.5 does it say that if you are going after this credit do you need also go after the MR credits, and vice versa. Yes, it does seem consistent that if you use the furniture for one MR credit, that it must be applied to all in NC. That, to me, is a different scenario.
The idea of submitting an ID credit on a CI credit for an NC project is that you are going above and beyond and complying with credit requirements that you do not necessarily need to be. The IEQ credit for furniture is a stand alone credit and furniture should not be have to included in the MR credits to achieve.
Count the 500th mile?
Do we count the 500th mile?
I just submitted our documentation on a project as we usually do, and the LEED coordinator on this project was confused on the items that we marked as >500 miles. We were instructed that only if items were >501 miles that we did not need to provide a map showing extraction / manufacturing. So it seems that they are counting that 500th mile.
I have flipped through the reference manual, and also looked at the CIRCredit Interpretation Ruling. Used by design team members experiencing difficulties in the application of a LEED prerequisite or credit to a project. Typically, difficulties arise when specific issues are not directly addressed by LEED information/guide's and only find that it repeatedly stated up to 500 miles. This would seem to me to mean that if a product is 500.75 miles from the project, that is does not positively contribute to this credit.
Am I off here?
I may have just answered my own question.
I grabbed the LEED online template. If you fill it out with any quantity over 500 miles IE 500.01 or greater- than the material does not contribute to the credit.
Does anyone know of any written documentation that states that the 500th mile is out.
Thanks
Kevin, I'm not sure I understand the question. The credit language (see above) requires materials to be within a 500-mile radius. A distance of 500.1, 500.2 miles, etc., is greater than 500, and doesn't qualify. If you think "499th, 500th, etc." it gets confusing. Just look at it numerically and it's pretty straightforward—as far as I can tell.
I agree Tristan, that's why this threw me for a loop. The LEED Coordinator on this project is pretty sure of themselves that they get to count the 500th mile. This goes against everything I've learned about this credit. I figured I'd put this out here to see if others have had this same experience.
Since 0 to 1 miles is the 1st mile, the 500th mile is the mile between 499 and 500. So the coordinator is right, but it doesn't change the result.
I think the coordinator was wrong. He was the one instructing us to count up to 500.99 miles. As you pointed out, and the reference guides clearly state, we count up to the 500 mile point only.
Maybe my original post was unclear.
On-site Salvaged Materials
Anyone have experience documenting on-site salvaged materials? I have 3 items: permanent ladders, chain link fence, and casework which was salvaged and reused on-site. The LEED manual states that on-site salvaged materials automatically qualify, but it doesn't give any clue as how to document it. Do i use the dollar value that it would take the contractor to install the above three items? Do i provide an estimate of the value of the items? Would it be wise to leave a note on the template, explaining to the reviewer about how the value was estimated?.......
You can use the "replacement cost" - what the materials would cost you if you had to buy them new, but like other materials costs, you'd exclude the labor cost for installation. It wouldn't hurt to add a note, but these are pretty common materials so I'd be surprised if it was questioned.
Transportation by train
A product manufacturer rep has told me that if steel is shipped by train instead of by truck that you are allowed a 1500 mile radius. Is there any truth to that statement?
Not that I'm aware of unless it's a VERY recent change. In Canada there is a provision to use a multipler (.25 I believe) to effectively 'widen' the radius for all the shipping miles which take place on rail or water. But I've never seen that in the US in any verison of LEED.
There was a proposal to do this in a comment draft of NC 2.2, but it was deemed too complicated, and never made it into LEED.
Unfortunately for a the majority of materials (like steel) it's not that complicated to calculate. More importantly, the way the supply chain works it's important to have more than the 'simple' solution.
The cost (both financial and environmental) to building manufacturing locations for many products outweighs the cost (again both financial and environmental) to finding economical freight solutions.
Keith, how would you write this in the language of LEED, such that it can be documented?
Regional Materials- Harvest Locations
I keep running into the same problem in Regional Materials, harvest locations. Specifically: I would like to recommend a fiber cement product that is manufactured 333.38 mi from project site. The company procures 90% of raw materials within 200 miles of manufacturing location. Based on this- some of the materials will fall in <500 mi range and others will not... how do you calculate?
We have a similar situation for our steel products. We actually track the incoming scrap by zip code which allows us to 'calculate' the percentage of material which was recovered within 500 miles of the project site. To follow the language in the credit, the manufacturer should be able to determine where the raw materials came from and how much (by percentage) was within 500 miles of the project site.
MR 5 Manufacturing & Harvesting
I am trying to purchase I-joists for project that is within ranges for log harvesting but the flange portion is procurred primarily from Canada, well out of range. Can you use a % of the material- or is it all or nothing for the materials & harvesting?
Per the actual credit language - " If only a fraction of a product or material is extracted/harvested/recovered and manufactured locally, then only that percentage (by weight) shall contribute to the regional value."
So of your I-Joist supplier can provide the fraction of the weight of each component of the I-Joist, I'd say you can make the calculation. That said, I don't know any manufacturers who break down their product in that way.
I'd like to hear other thoughts...
Yes, the assembly approach is perfectly valid here. There is more detail on how to calculate this under the "Checklists" tab above.
Do I need to upload my materials cost spread sheet ?
I have filled out the leed online template for MR credit 5. Do I need to upload my spreadsheet showing my total materials costs (list of all materials and total cost)? Is the required or do I just need to have it on file?
Are there any other required uploads for this credit? None are listed on leed online. THANKS!
Normally you wouldn't need to if the Letter Template is filled out completely, but since some reviewers may ask for additional documentation be sure to keep copies of your supporting documents on file.
Concrate products
Regional credits with conrete products have caused me some daubts about the LEED system in general.
Basic point here is, that when concrete mix (like elements) is calculated based on weight (85 % aggregates), it typically is local (no point carrying aggregates so long). So with concrete products 20 % regionality is easily reachable.
This however does not comply with LCA based assessment, where cement and reinforcement bars are the things to enhance. While cement is only 10 % of weight, using blast furnace slag has a mojor effect on emissions, it has only minor to none effect on recycled content.
Hi Timo,
Yes, this is a limitation in how LEED deals with materials. You can get credit for using local aggregates (that's a good thing), but it might be out of proportion, as you suggest.
Fortunately, LEED does allow you to take a bit more recycled content credit for substituting blast furnace slag for cement because you are allowed to separate out the ingredients by cost, so even thought the slag is a small part of the mass it can count for a lot of the value of the concrete. So that helps a little.
Land Clearing Debris
The LEED v2.2 Reference Guide is clear that land clearing debris cannot be counted as part of MR2, but it makes no mention of it in other MR Credits. In your experience, can it be included in the calculations for MR3, MR4, or MR5? For instance, we're using all timber debris for mulch on-site.
Hi Kathryn,
Land clearing debris doesn't meet the definition for resource reuse (which has to be stuff that's salvaged from prior uses, generally in a building), nor for recycled content.
As we noted in the Hot Tip in the LEEDuser checklist for MRc5, you CAN count products salvaged on site as local/regional material. You'll just have to figure out how to put a fair dollar value on them.
Light Guage Framing
I relaize this question is similar to the one above but I have a manufacturer insisting that I can use the steel coil manufacturer location as the harvesting/extraction point for light guage framing. I have requested them to provide the scrap yard location for the post consumer recycled content. I don't understand why this would be any different from all other steel products. Can anyone confirm whether or not the steel coil can be used for the extraction/harvesting location for steel framing ?
You're right, the manufacturer is wrong.
Angela,
Part of the confusion is because of the addenda posted on 7/19/2010. It says, in part -
"The extraction point for
recycled materials is the location of the raw material prior to the manufacturing of the final building product. As such, the point of extraction could include a recycling facility, scrap yard, depository, stockpile, or any other location where the material was collected and packaged for market purchase before manufacturing."
In the case of semi-finished steel products, that "collection point" could be a mill. For example, it's possible for the 'steel mill' to collect the scrap and produce billets which are then shipped to another 'rolling mill' to be made into basic rebar. That rebar could be sent directly to the jobsite OR to a fabricator who then 'manufactures' various assembled frames ready for installation. In that case, the billet producer could be considered the "recovery location" and the rolling mill or fabricator the final point of manufacturing.
Part of the logic is how the market works, since there are "bar mills" and rebar fabricators spread out all over the country and the vast majority (almost all?) of the 'scrap' can come from within 500 miles of the mill.
I am aware of one producer who tracks incoming scrap by zip code of collection location and can provide a percentage of scrap collected within 500 miles of the jobsite. The locations (perhaps dozens or more) within the 500 mile radius of the jobsite will not be listed individually.
Unfortunately MR5 is one of those credits which don't do a good job incorporating how the market works. For some products the language is clear but for others it can be more complicated than what you see on the surface.
Non-compliant materials
In the LEED Canada Ref. Guide V1.0, on page 307, there is an example letter template showing materials that are non-compliant. We don't need to collect and enter data for materials that are non-compliant, do we? I haven't done it before, but I didn't notice this example. It seems redundant and work-making to me.
No, you don't. As long as you know your total materials budget (if you're using that method), you don't need to track non-compliant materials.
Aluminum
Has anyone submitted aluminum windows or storefront for this credit? We are finding that manufacturers say that determining a regional source for the components of aluminum is difficult or impossible.
For example, United States Aluminum has this to say on their website:
"Due to the geographic diversity of bauxite sources, Australia, Brazil, Jamaica, Russia and the United States, and the stream of recycled aluminum content in billet, it is difficult to determine a specific regional source to qualify for this credit."
I love to hear if anyone has actually submitted them and discovered otherwise, but I'd say that the info you found is right on--given where the raw materials for aluminum come from, it's hard to make the case that it could be a regional material in the U.S.
In response to Nadav's comment,
It seems like your reply to Tony's question about recycled steel would apply here also. The original harvesting site of raw aluminum is mostly overseas, but from what I have been told, the location of the production of the billet (which will have a % from scrap) is accepted for the MR5 credit. Manufacturers of aluminum products can usually tell you where they get their billet from.
I work for Arcadia, inc. in the L.A. area and while I have only been here a short time, have been told by colleagues that we have successfully contributed to this credit on projects. We use a local extruder who produces the billet locally.
I have also seen mention of MR5 on Vistawall's website, and there may be other manufacturers who have had success with this.
I had a conversation with U.S. Aluminum similar to the one above, and it may be that they do not obtain their billet locally, or that their suppliers vary.
Does anyone know if there is an official word from the usgbc on this? Either a CI or just acceptance of a project?
MR 5 Harvesting Information
I am in South Korea. South Korea is very smaller than US States and all of area in South Korea is located within 500miles of the project site. If the manufacture in South Korea import the salvaged/recycled items from China(Outside 500miles) but manufacture, can it be achieved point for MR 5, Regional Materials?
Tongsu, materials qualifying for this credit must be both manufactured and extracted within the 500-mile radius.
That means that materials imported from China, if they are from farther than 500 miles, would not qualify. Sorry!
MRc5 Imported Fill
If Dirtwork is included in all calcs can Imported Fill count as regional? V2.2
I can't guarantee that it will be accepted, but my experience suggests that it will be. The fill will figure into the calculations on a cost basis, so unless you're spending a lot on fill, it may not affect the end result all that much.
Keep in mind that including this for all credits could hurt your ability to earn points for recycled content (MRc4). .
MR 5 Harvesting Information
Many of the steel products that I have on my project have high recycled content. Because the products are made from a large portion of scrap metal, How can you determine the location from where the scrap metal is extracted?
For example a junk car could be used for scrap metal. There is no way to determine where the metal to make the car came from. Do you count the scrap metal supplier's address as the harvesting location like MRc3? How do you track the harvesting information since Most manufacturer's of recycled steel products buy scrap from different suppliers based on market conditions and do not have use consistent suppliers.
Is there a default number harvesting percentage USGBC will allow to you to apply if you have a product with a large amount of recycled metal like the default 25% you can apply to MRc4?
Hi Tony,
This is covered pretty well in a "hot tip" in the "Checklists" section of LEEDuser, above. Basically, you do have to know where the scrap was collected prior to going to the manufacturer, but you don't have to track anything back to it's original, pre-recycling state. And no, there is no default value like the MRc4 25%.
Submittal Template
What would be the best way to list the materials if they don't all fit on the provided spaces on the submittal template? I could create my own spreadsheet in excel and attach it, but then the template wouldn't show that we are receiving the credit.
thanks so much.
My suggestion would be to include as many materials in the template as will fit, leaving one line open. Then put the rest in an attached spreadsheet, as you propose, and use the last line in the template to enter the total of the data from the spreadsheet, giving it a fictitious "product" and "company" name indicating that it's an aggregation from the attached file.
That should give you the right result in the template, while also giving GBCI all the data. What have others done in this situation?
I have just encountered the same issue and would like to know the proper protocol. Seems a bit odd that the template has such a limited number of fields. Stephen, did you have any luck with Nadav's suggestion?
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