Who would have thought how much stress and headache LEED v4 would be causing design and construction teams as they are forced to scramble to find some of the few hundred products that have EPDs, HPDs, C2Cs? Actually, most people. That’s why in addition to EPD/HPD, you need to BYOB.
The Badger got curious and started asking – are architects specifying or are contractors researching or what? It’s the wild west out there – everyone is trying to figure out a process to source, spec, and implement compliant products. The Badger got thinking – what would a pragmatic way be to go about this? (Something many people at our favorite non-profit acronym don’t normally seem to put an emphasis on). Here’s what we came up with for my nice new Badger den I’m building.
To start, I want to track as little as possible and make this as easy on myself as I can, so I want as many products that earn me credit under Environmental Product Disclosure AND Material Ingredient Reporting as possible. Two birds, one stone so to speak.
In my main office area, I’ve got Armstrong Fine Fissured acoustical ceiling tile (EPD and HPD) and Shaw EcoWorx carpet tiles (EPD/C2C). Break rooms have Armstrong Cirrus ACT ( EPD/HPD) and Forbo Coral Duo flooring (EPD/HPD) while bathrooms feature Armstrong Ultima ACT (EPD/HPD) and Forbo Flotex Tile (EPD/HPD) (Flotex sounds appropriate for a bathroom, right? Flooring in the main entrance is Forbo Marmoleum Tile (EPD/HPD).
Our exterior is comprised of, amongst other things, Kawneer Curtain Wall (EPD/C2C) and Owens Corning Kraft Face Insulation (EPD/C2C) and to reduce glare, the YKK ThermaShade sun control system (EPD/C2C).
Whew – that’s 10 EPDs and HPD/C2Cs right there. Now its time to get serious. To finish off my EPDs, we’re going to install Inpro Wall Guards, Chari Rail, Hand Rail, and Kickplates, which all go on walls framed using Merino Ware Cold-Rolled Steel Framing, StudRite Metal Framing, FrameRite Connectors, Metal Lath and Slotted Track. Finally, we’ve got the Kohler Highline toilet in the bathrooms.
For HPD/C2C, we’ve used WF Taylor TruRenew Carpet flooring adhesive, MS Plus resilient flooring adhesive, and VCT adhesive, along with Benjamin Moore Natura No-VOC Paint and UltraSpec 500 Interior Paint. We’re going to sit on Steelcase Node chairs, kick our feet up on Steelcase Storage while writing on their Premium Whiteboard or more likely popping a beer around our Groupwork table or B-Free furniture.
And deserve that beer we do, because we just knocked out two LEED v4 materials credits! The moral of the story – these points could be potentially very easy to achieve – if you are strategic on the front end and are willing to confine your selections to the very, very small number of manufacturers and products that are out there, until the rest of the market catches up.
And for the rest of us who are trying to work with the architects who did not plan appropriately and having to scramble – we will need more than just beer.