Section 2: Individual LEED Credit Reviews
LEED Credit MR-6:
As a number of these products are still relatively
new to the construction market, it is currently
Rapidly Renewable
unlikely that they would all be incorporated into a
new Courthouse design, particularly at the levels
Materials
needed to reach the 5 percent cost threshold.
With office buildings, the opportunities to install
rapidly renewable materials are even more limited
Intent
(they have far less casework or wood flooring than
Reduce the use and depletion of finite raw
Courthouses), making the likelihood of achieving
materials and long-cycle renewable materials by
the 5 percent threshold even more remote.
replacing them with rapidly renewable materials.
In most GSA projects, it is therefore unlikely that
the LEED credit will be earned, although the use
Requirement
of some rapidly renewable materials may be
Use rapidly renewable building materials and
desirable for aesthetic, economic, or environmental
product (made from plants that are typically
reasons. In addition, some types of rapidly
harvested within a ten-year cycle or shorter) for
renewable materials (e.g., strawboard, cork
5% of the total value of the all building materials
flooring) may also contain recycled content and
and products used in the project.
therefore contribute to LEED Credits MR-4.1 and
4.2. The strawboard substrates are also
(1 point)
manufactured without urea-formaldehyde binders,
which allow them to contribute to Credit EQ-4.4,
Low-Emitting Materials, Composite Wood.
Cost Impact: Not Pursued
Basis for Cost Assumption
1
2
3
4
5
The credit is not pursued in any of the Courthouse
GSA
No
Low
Moderate
High
or Office Building scenarios.
Standard
premium,
premium
premium
premium
(no cost)
psble svgs
(<50K)
(50-150K)
(>150K)
Summary of First Cost Impacts
Practical Applications
Courthouse (New Construction, 262,000 GSF)
While a number of rapidly renewable building
products are available, it is very difficult for mid-
The credit is not pursued.
and large-scale commercial or institutional projects
to meet the 5 percent threshold of this credit. GSA
Office Building (Modernization, 306,600 GSF)
courthouses, for instance, would likely need to
incorporate the following rapidly renewable
The credit is not pursued.
materials to even approach the 5 percent criteria:
Linoleum flooring (typically an alternative to
Additional Considerations
vinyl flooring)
Agrifiber (straw-based) substrates for
None identified.
casework (typically an alternative to plywood,
particleboard, or medium-density fiberboards)
Synergistic Credits
Cork flooring (typically an alternative to
wood, resilient flooring, or carpeting)
As noted above, some products that qualify as
Bamboo flooring (typically an alternative to
rapidly renewable materials may also contribute to
wood flooring)
Credit MR-4 (Recycled Content) or Credit EQ-4.4
(Low-Emitting Materials, Composite Wood).
GSA LEED COST STUDY
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