The Impact of Brick on Recycled and Regional Credits for LEED

For projects pursuing LEED certification, the question of the impact of any material on the Recycled Content and Regional Content credits consistently arise. This is understandable. During the design of a project it is difficult to tell what products will ultimately come from within the requisite 500 mile radius or what their recycled content will be. If a project wants to insure that it will achieve these LEED credits, it makes sense to insist from every vendor that their products be regionally sourced and that they have recycled content. Unfortunately, sustainability is not a black and white issue and these credits can sometimes conflict. In other words, material within the 500 mile radius may not have the highest recycled content available. Additionally, manufacturers beyond the 500 mile radius may offer other benefits that can save costs or speed construction or meet a design requirement that addresses other sustainability goals.

Designers who select materials solely on the basis of meeting these two LEED criteria may be missing other opportunities for creative expression or sustainability. So, how does one know when to broaden the criteria for material selection? We have decided to take a look at several LEED certified projects to assess the relative contribution of certain materials or specified items to the Material & Resource credits for Recycled Content and Regional Materials. Since this site is focusing on brick, we will begin here but, we plan to be able to provide metrics for other materials so stay tuned.

We have compiled data from several LEED projects built with brick exteriors. Comprised of a variety of building types, all projects are located in the Baltimore, MD/Washington, DC metro region.

Recycled Content
In the sample we have compiled, total recycled content represents between 18% and 55% of the cost of the materials (divisions 2-10) of the project. Though some brick contained recycled content, others did not. For the sake of this exercise, we calculated the impact for both zero and one hundred percent recycled content to illustrate what the potential material impact would be. In fact, few bricks will include one hundred percent recycled content. The impact of 100% recycled brick on the total recycled content of a project varied between 2.26% and 3%. This is the total potential contribution of brick to this credit. In most cases, because few brick are made of 100% recycled content, it will be lower than this. Fifty percent recycled content in brick for the represented projects would yield an impact of 1.13% to 1.5%, for example.

As previously mentioned, the total recycled content of these projects varied from 18%-55%. Projects whose recycled content exceeded twenty percent meet the LEED requirement for achieving the two points available under this credit. Many projects received the Innovation in Design Credit for Exemplary Performance by meeting or exceeding thirty percent recycled content for the materials on the project. Whether or not the brick contained recycled content was insignificant to the achievement of the maximum number of points for this credit.
 
Regional Materials
Using the same sample of buildings, the total value of materials regionally sourced ranged from 9.17% to 50.3% of total material costs (divisions 2-10). Again we calculated each project at zero and one hundred percent of the value of the brick for this credit. Again, the contribution of brick to the total value of regionally source materials was between 2.26% and 3% overall.
In the case of the Regional Material credit, the sample of projects revealed that many of the projects in the Baltimore/Washington area were obtaining more than thirty percent (30%) of their materials regionally, well above the twenty percent (20%) required to achieve the two available points under this credit and enough to achieve the Exemplary Performance point under Innovation in Design. In this case, the contribution of brick to the achievement of this credit could be the difference between qualifying for the Innovation point or not but, for all projects, it did not impact the project’s ability to qualify for the two points available under this credit.

Sustainability
It is true that whether one achieves a LEED point or not, the embodied energy, and therefore the embodied carbon, of a material is likely to be greater if one has to transport it farther – particularly if it is a heavy material like brick. But, if one wants to truly drill down to this level of detail, one would have to consider such things as the efficiency of the plant where the material is manufactured, where the raw material is harvested, whether the brick will be transported to the local distributor by truck or rail as well as the relative impact of any potential increase in embodied energy to the total life-cycle benefit of building a brick building. While I would support such an exercise, I do not anticipate that it will be part of a typical design process.
This exercise is intended to assist design teams in evaluating the relative contribution of their material decisions on these particular LEED credits and to place these decisions in the context of the overall project sustainability goals. As this author has frequently expressed, sustainability is about so much more than LEED. Each project needs to be considered in its entirety as well as for its individual credit compliance.

In summary, designers should focus on the big picture and the strategies that contribute to a project’s overall sustainability. Yes, one needs to be conscientious about material selections but, most non-structural material selections are likely to have small to insignificant impacts on the overall compliance with the Recycled Content and Regionally Sourced material credits. Consider your location, what other materials are contributing toward targeted credit compliance and the projected value of the material in question. What are the other considerations; aesthetics, a manufacturer’s ability to meet fabrication and schedule requirements or cost. Discuss your options with your LEED consultant.

For a full report, contact Potomac Valley Brick at info@PVBrick.com.

Durability & Maintainability - Building with 100 Year Products

Historic preservation of buildings is both an interesting and timely topic of discussion in today’s design community. Potomac Valley Brick sponsored an event at the National Building Museum which brought together three great minds to speak on this topic last week. Carl Elefante, FAIA, LEED AP, Principal, Quinn Evans Architects, Rollin Stanley, AICP, Planning Director, Montgomery County, Maryland, and Audrey T. Tepper, Historical Architect, National Park Service all spoke about preserving buildings and communities in the green era.

Sustainable design practices present many challenges for today’s designers. Carl Elefante strongly believes that we can all benefit by enriching our understanding on the opportunities to renew and transform our communities, economy and culture. It is clear that sustainable design is transforming what, where, and how we build. “We have to get back to the way we were. We can design 100 year buildings,” said Elefante. He explained that our most energy efficient buildings were those built prior to 1920. This was when we built communities for people, not cars. This speaker truly engaged the audience in his presentation. “It survived people smarter than you, let it survive you!” Carl Elefante said this about tearing down buildings and walls. He continued to speak about the value in the existing building stock: economic value, cultural value, and environmental value. Elefante also urged the audience to “get into energy efficient retrofits, because this is where our market is headed.” Durability and maintainability is building with 100 year products, not products that last a decade. (As a true brickie, I love this!) He continued to tout about durability and maintainability, building with 100 year products not products that last a decade. And to me, this is simple and makes sense. Elefante closed his presentation with the following slide:

Sustainable Stewardship = Historical Preservation + Sustainable Design
RENEWAL & TRANSFORMATION

Rollin Stanley is passionate about his involvement in planning for urban growth through sustainable design. This was clear through the copious historic sites he discussed with the audience. His talk focused on the future of sustainable design as it relates to new and old buildings, and how historic preservation can lead to economic development. Stanley said that we can all benefit by educating ourselves about the value of preservation. We need to redevelop and design wonderful communities for people to live, work and play. One specific example cited by Stanley in his talk was about the revitalization of the historic city of St. Louis. This remarkable case study has the opportunity to be replicated in other cities. In addition to the economic opportunities presented through historic preservation, there are also many opportunities for tax credits. These tax credits have the potential to stimulate economic growth through the creation of housing and jobs. You can learn more about these programs at the National Park Service website

Audrey T. Tepper, the third and final speaker, discussed the inherent sustainable properties of historic buildings. These structures have a legacy. Historical materials can be very forgiving. Historic preservation means considering repairing, not replacing; retaining the character of the building when updating; and, understanding that new construction or additions to an existing historic structure must be compatible with the building. Tepper proceeded to show numerous examples of historic buildings whose character was completely compromised by the addition of solar “mohawk” panels, exterior insulation encapsulating the existing details and building character, and green roofs that need a haircut. “There should be a historic building under all that eco-bling,” exclaimed Audrey Tepper. Form needs to fit function, and we have to get back to the basics of what is truly sustainable. Tepper ended by stating, “Historic preservation is inherently green, and there is a lot of value to retaining the existing materials in a building.”

Throughout the discussions, the speakers referenced many credible sites. Here is a short list, for a complete list of reliable information click here.

http://www.nps.gov/history/hps/tps/tax/ (National Park Service)
http://wbdg.org/ (The Whole Building Design Guide)
http://www.buildingscience.com/ (Building Science Corporation)
http://www.wufi-pro.com/ (WUFI-Software for calculating the coupled heat and moisture transfer in building components)
http://www.nps.gov/prsf/index.htm (National Park Service - Presidio)

One last note! We were thrilled to hear one of the speakers at the event mention Professor Alan Short, MA DipArch RIBA FRSA. Professor Short will be traveling to the National Building Museum on March 31, 2011 to be the keynote speaker for our 2nd Annual BrickStainable Awards Ceremony. We hope to see you there!

Quick Update! Deadline Today!

Don't forget to submit your entry by midnight! All entries must be complete, paid and submitted. You will receive an email confirmation when you pay and when you submit your entry. Winners will be announced on February 15th! Good luck!

BrickStainable Jurors Speak at Greenbuild 2010

I never cease to enjoy Greenbuild. Even as it has expanded, the enthusiasm and breadth of expertise and investigation is enthralling. Those who have been in this field for a while may find many of the educational sessions to be too basic but, if one selects carefully, there is plenty of cutting edge work being presented. Two of the jurors from BrickStainable presented at the conference, as did I.

Vivian Loftness was a part of two sessions. One presented perspectives on the greening of college campuses. How is an institution’s commitment to greening itself manifest and how does it affect student life, academics and job opportunities in a green economy? Another panel that Vivian participated on addressed carbon footprint analysis for single family residences. This was part of the Residential Summit that took place at Greenbuild this year. This session focused on establishing the quantitative value of the carbon embodied (versus operational) in the single family house. This allows the design, including materials and systems selection, to better meet sustainability goals and more fully evaluate the life cycle impact of the project.

Bill Browning participated in a panel entitled “Mannahatta & The Mtigwaaki: Learning from Ecological and Indigenous History To Remake Our Cities.” Eric Sanderson’s book, “Mannahatta: A Natural History of New York City” is a fascinating look at how the development of a City like New York has been affected by its natural history. Bill discussed a project of his own that was informed by this research and how that project has been able to take advantage of the discovery that is located on top of an historic, but long ago buried stream.

I participated in a panel discussion of two community health clinics that have achieved LEED NC Gold and LEED CI Platinum certifications. Serving Baltimore City’s homeless population and a distressed urban community, these LEED certified buildings contribute to the awareness of environmental health in these frequently marginalized communities.

There were many other fascinating sessions and over 1,000 exhibitors this year! The Brickstainable team has been actively involved and we hope to be able to present the contributions of BrickStainable to the sustainability discussion next year. Keep an eye on us and the great work of our competitors!

Congratulations!

Like BrickStainable, other pro-brick organizations around the globe are honoring the best thinking in masonry this year.

The United Kingdom’s Brick Development Association, Think Brick Initiative announced its Brick Awards Winners. Think Brick Australia also handed out its 2010 About Face Design and Horbury Hunt Awards. It’s a real treat to peruse the entries and what designers around the world are doing both in theory and in real life. The winning designs are stunning examples of the innovation, functionality and beauty that comes with using brick.

A big BrickStainable Congratulations to all of this year’s winners!

Reflections from a BrickStainable Competition Winner

“It seems really amazing that you have already launched the second BrickStainable Competition bringing back to us all the exciting memories from last year. Since we left Washington, DC we had the best impressions about the whole experience you have offered us and we felt the stimulus of being exposed to such a great amount of thinkers from different disciplines. We consider your competition the starting point for a very particular research that deals with the component of construction as its basic module. In this way we can explore more “bottom-up” systems of producing space, rather than traditional “top-down” methodologies. Inserting context to these systems like sustainability and bioclimatic design turned out to be really intriguing to us.

Once more we thank you for opening this competition to the design community, pushing our research to a level that promotes contemporary design and finds applications to the latest tendencies of architecture.

In this frame we decided to take our ideas to another level and felt confident enough to promote our ideas back to Europe. Through this process our winning entry has been selected with 46 more in its category, among 256 international entries, to participate in the 22nd biennial of industrial design in Ljubljana, best known from its acronym BIO. BIO is one of the few major international exhibitions that have a tradition of more than 45 years of pushing the envelope in contemporary design.” – Flora Bougiatioti, Maria Eftychi & Aimlios Michael, Cyprus

Congratulations to Flora, Maria & Aimlios, Technical Design winners from the 2009 BrickStainable Design Competition. More detail about the BIO exhibition is available at: http://www.bio.si/

Can a Building Really be Comfortable with no A/C?

Alan Short, the principal of Short & Associates, chartered architects, and professor of architecture at Cambridge University will prove its possible! He’s coming to Washington, DC to speak about his work at BrickStainable’s Awards Ceremony in March.

Short designs research level sustainable public buildings for a wide variety of activities in the United Kingdom and abroad. Recently, his firm designed the downdraft-cooled School of Slavonic and East European Studies in Bloomsbury, the mixed mode Judson College Academic Centre in Chicago, the innovative Queens Building, De Montfort University in Leicester as well as his first building in Beijing (shown) which is currently underway. Short & Associates is extremely interested in extending its fundamental green design approach to creating sustainable buildings for healthcare facilities. The firm publishes all of its research and the design and construction process from start to finish for each building.

Short is a big proponent of “heavy construction.” At BrickStainable, he’ll present a series of brick masonry buildings from different climates and describe how they were designed to stay comfortable despite temperature fluctuations using much less energy than expected.

BrickStainable’s Awards Ceremony will be held at the National Building Museum March 31, 2011. Tickets are available at www.BrickStainable.com.