Building designers, facility managers and others hoping to achieve LEED building certification by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) can now use sustainable ceramic tiles, glass tiles and tile installation materials to earn the necessary credits. To contribute, the project’s tiles and installation materials, such as mortar or grout, must meet the strict environmental and socially responsible requirements of Green Squared, the ceramic tile industry’s multi-attribute, sustainability standard.
Green Squared certified products now qualify to contribute toward a new LEED Pilot Credit offered under the category of certified multi-attribute products and materials. The credit requires that certification details, such as which Green Squared electives were satisfied, are disclosed, and that a product lifecycle assessment (LCA) has been conducted.
The intent of this new credit is to encourage the use of products and materials for which life-cycle information is available and that have environmentally, economically and socially preferable life-cycle impacts, says the USGBC.
To achieve a LEED point under this credit, at least 25 per cent by cost of the permanently installed building products on a project must meet a USGBC-approved product sustainability standards, like Green Squared, and have third-party validation to prove it. For Green Squared Certified products, that means a thorough assessment will be completed and certification can be achieved from any of these international sustainability leaders: UL Environment, NSF International and SCS Global.
“USGBC included Green Squared as an approved multi-attribute sustainability standard because the criteria are rigorous and fully in-line with the intent of the new credit,” says Bill Griese, the Director of Standards Development and Sustainability Initiatives for Tile Council of North America (TCNA). “It’s not easy to get on that list. The Committee looks at each standard closely to make sure products that meet them are truly sustainable. The credibility of the LEED program relies on that being a rigorous review and approval process.”
Essentially, by scrutinizing sustainability standards and recognizing only those that truly identify sustainable products, this Pilot Credit makes it simpler to build sustainably by providing the criteria from which a specifier can choose products.
“The release of this new Pilot Credit establishes an important precedent for the specification of certified multi-attribute sustainable products for the years ahead,” added Griese. “It affords architects and designers the flexibility to select product types based on design preferences and cost, and then to optimize based on sustainability within each relevant section.”
The new Pilot Credit is available for registration on current LEED v3 and v4 projects and will continue to be available once the USGBC transitions exclusively to LEED v4 this month. The amount of the Pilot Credit is determined by the amount of recycled content, closed loop manufacturing waste reclamation and/or regional raw materials are used to produce the product.
