MR Flashcards
MR acronym
Materials and Resources
MR overall purpose
Credit Criteria are set up to encourage resource efficiency and support a life cycle approach, which in turn improves performance.
Emphasizes minimizing impacts and embodied energy associated with:
Maintenance Processing Extraction Transportation Disposal
…of building materials
MR facts
Construction and Demolition make up a large portion of the solid waste stream: 25% in EU & 40% in US
MR hierarchy of waste management
- Source Reduction (use less)
- Reuse (find other forms of usefulness as is)
- Recycle (process into other usable materials)
- Waste to energy (burn to make power)
Source reduction
Source Reduction:
Top of hierarchy, most effective form of efficiency.
Prevents environmental damages in a materials entire lifecycle: supply chain, use, recycling and disposal.
Promotes designing and prefabrication of dimensional construction materials and other innovative construction strategies to minimize inefficiencies and material cutoffs.
reuse
Production and transportation of new materials to replace old ones generates greenhouse gases and requires many years of increased efficiency to offset.
LEED Rewards all material reuse including insitu and off-site materials
Recycling
Most common diversion from landfills which are increasing unsustainable as land runs out and transportation costs increase.
Improved recycling technology allows for better processing and sorting to keep materials in the production stream for longer and supply raw materials to secondary markets.
Waste to energy
Alleviates burdens on landfills and the demand for energy from fossil fuel resources.
LCA
LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT
compilation and evaluation of the inputs and outputs and the potential environmental impacts of a product system throughout its life cycle.
Examines building products, evaluating its impacts, from “cradle to grave” …or “cradle to cradle”
LEED strives to speed up the use of LCA decision making to improve the quality of LCA databases and stimulate market transformations.
Because of the limitations of LCA, LEED uses complimentary approaches in its MR credits.
CSI
Construction Specification Institute
MR Credits pertain to “permanently installed building products” attached to or creating the building. Generally items within CSI (Construction Specification Institute) 3-10, 31 & 32.
MR cross-cutting issues
MR Credits only include the portions of the building that are being renovated or constructed. Untouched areas cannot count towards reuse.
MR Credits pertain to “permanently installed building products” attached to or creating the building. Generally items within CSI (Construction Specification Institute) 3-10, 31 & 32.
MR Credits may include or exclude project furniture, but it must be included or excluded in its entirety including in cost based credits.
Not included in LEED LCA Calculations: Process equipment Fire suppression systems Elevators Escalators Other special equipment
separate products vs ingredients
Products shipped to the site ready for installation:
Concrete masonry units, wallboard, metal studs are all separate products
For wallboard: the binder, the gypsum, and backing are all required for its function, so each ingredient is not a separate product.
Products shipped as a component or ingredient in a site-assembled product:
Since each component and concrete (aggregate, admixture, and cement) serves a different function, each component is considered a separate product.
Because different paint tapes of distinct gloss levels such as gloss, semi-gloss, and flat, are specified to serve different functions they are separate products.
Different colors of the same paint finish are not considered separate
products
Carpets of different pile height for different foot traffic functions are considered separate products.
Carpets of the same product line but in different colors are not considered separate products.
MR product costs
Product/material cost: includes all contractor expenses and taxes to ship material to project, but does not include cost of equipment and labor necessary for installation.
default material cost
calculates 45% of the total construction costs as an option to determine the total materials cost
actual material cost
cost of all materials used on job site including delivery and taxes but excluding labor.
Location Valuation Factor
adds value to locally produced materials and products to encourage the use of products manufactured, extracted, and purchased within one hundred 100 miles of the project. They are valued at two times their actual cost.
Two criteria required:
Manufacture, extraction, and purchase within 100 miles of the project.
Meet at least one of the sustainable criteria (recycled content, FSC certification, etc.) listed in the credit.
MR material contribution of assemblies
Sustainability criteria are only applicable portion of hey product assembly. Project teams should use weight to calculate the contributing value.
Product value ($) = ($) total product cost x (%) product component by weight x (%) meeting sustainable criteria
MR purpose
Promote the following products & strategies:
Minimize material use Environmentally friendly materials Waste management and reduction Storage and collection of recyclables Building reuse (maintain existing walls, floors and roof) Building reuse (maintain the interior nonstructural elements) Construction waste management Material reuse Recycled content Regional materials Rapidly renewable materials Certified wood
MR core concepts
Manage waste:
Reduce waste
Reuse and divert waste
Reduce and Reuse Materials
Reduce the amount of materials used
Reuse of buildings & materials
Choose rapidly renewable materials
MR recognition
Cradle to Cradle
Green seal
other product certifications
MR regulation
Rare
Internal policy for supply chain and materials management in some organizations.
MR incentives
Recycling incentive
MRP: storage and collection of recyclables
concept
Approximately 69% of total municipal solid waste is for paper, food, metal, glass, and plastic, all of which are recyclable.
A lack of convenient, physical spaces for recycling is a common problem. Accessible, well-designed waste management infrastructure helps building occupants form habits of recycling.
More and more old computers, keyboards, cameras and printers are becoming electronic waste (e-waste). These contains hazardous materials that require special procedures for recycling.
MRP: storage and collection of recyclables
requirement
Provide dedicated areas accessible to waste haulers and building occupants for the collection and storage of recyclable materials for the entire building.
Collection and storage areas may be separate locations. Recyclable materials must include mixed paper, corrugated cardboard, glass, plastics, and metals.
Take appropriate measures for the safe collection, storage, and disposal of two of the following: batteries, mercury-containing lamps, and electronic waste.
MRC: building life-cycle impact reduction
concepts
Buildings have global, regional, and local environmental attacks over their life cycles. These involve extraction, harvest, manufacture, and transportation of their materials, operations and construction during their use, and disposal and demolition.
cradle to cradle LCA
Whole building LCA
approach considers many effects of building life cycles:
Eutrophication
Acidification of water sources and the land
Depletion of non-renewable energy sources
Stratospheric ozone depletion
Global warming potential
Formation of tropospheric ozone
MRC: Building product disclosure and optimization:
EPDs
CONCEPTS:
Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) are a standard method of conveying the environmental effects related to a product or system’s:
Energy use Waste generation Chemical makeup Raw material extraction Emissions to air, soil, and water
The purpose of this credit is to help transform the market for building materials and products with life-cycle information, and reward the manufacturers with verified mental performance.
Project teams are encouraged to give preference to products with EPDs.
ISO
International organization for standardization (ISO)
The internationally recognized norm for EPD’s
MRC: Building product disclosure and optimization: sourcing of raw materials (concepts)
Extracting raw material has a direct environmental effect on the ecosystems.
This credit promotes the use of responsibly extracted and sourced materials. Demonstration and reporting of responsible extraction practices.
This credit promotes environmental impact reductions that have positive effects on the sources of project materials and go beyond the individual project by increasing V demand for transparency and quarrying, mining, forestry, agriculture, and other industries.
CSRs
Corporate sustainability reports (CSRs), Based on generally accepted standards and frameworks, can identify sources of raw material extraction and provide information on product supply chains.
CSRs provide frameworks that enable transparency and environmental effects to be improved, evaluated and compared with other companies as sustainability goals become more and more important.
MRC: Building product disclosure and optimization: material ingredients (concepts)
The average building user, even the average building designer does not have adequate knowledge about the construction materials to make informed selections.
Regulations exist for some hazardous chemicals, but 96% (approx. 86,000) of chemicals used in the US have not been screened for health impacts.
PBTs
Persistent Bioaccumulative and Toxic chemicals
PBTs can cause damage in very small amounts. They are often discharged during the use, manufacturing or disposal of a product, consumed by wildlife and often build up in species high on the food chain and remain in the environment.
POPs
Persistent Organic Pollutants
Green chemistry
is the the design of chemical processes and products to eliminate or reduce the generation and use of harmful substances.
It attempts to develop safer substitutes, prioritize chemicals, create “green lists”, and replace “red lists”.
Hazard assessment approaches
The programs in this credit use hazard assessment approaches to assess multiple environmental and human health endpoints in a way that is more detailed than most life cycle assessments.
Project teams provide manufacture’s reports to prove responsible product selection or use specified programs to ensure the absence of materials of concern.
MRC: construction and demolition waste management
concepts
With better reuse and recycling infrastructure, new market incentives, and more advanced sorting technologies, more and more construction waste has been decorated in recent years.
Most diverted materials are valuable, easily resold materials such as metals, or high-volume waste, such as structural waste.
This credit encourages projects to implement the plan generated in
MRP: construction and demolition waste management planning perquisite.
Minimum number of material streams
Minimum Overall diversion percentage.
Encourages project teams to divert a greater diversity and quantity of materials into many material streams.
Offers an alternative to diversion via an option to reward waste reduction.
MRC: PBT source reduction - mercury
Healthcare only
PURPOSE: To reduce the release of persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic (PBTs) chemicals associated with the life cycle of building materials.
Specifically addresses Mercury, by specifying minimum efficiency for fluorescent bulbs
MRC: PBT source reduction - lead, cadmium, and copper
Healthcare only
PURPOSE: To reduce the release of persistent, bioaccumulative, and toxic (PBTs) chemicals associated with the life cycle of building materials.
Specifies substitutes for materials manufactured with lead and cadmium
Reduce or eliminate joint-related sources of copper corrosion
MRC: furniture and medical furnishings
Healthcare only
PURPOSE: To enhance the environmental and human health performance attributes associated with freestanding furniture and medical furnishings.
Calls for Minimums on Chemical content or Testing for chemicals in materials used I project furniture.
MRC: design for flexibility
Healthcare only
PURPOSE: Conserve resources associated with the construction and management of buildings by designing for flexibility and ease of future adaptation and for the service life of components and assemblies.
Calls for use of at least 3 strategies from a list of items such as, extra storage, office space, movable furniture & casework and other flexibility strategies.
