LEED

LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design certification) is a major initiative by the US Green Building Council (USGBC) to encourage the responsible use of resources in a sustainable fashion and to promote environmentally friendly designs in new construction.  It is based on accepted energy and environmental practices. It is a self-assessing system for rating “whole building” environmental performance from a life cycle perspective and provides standards for what constitutes a “green” building.  While largely a commercial building initiative, the USGBC is also developing residential standards for “green” houses. USGBC describes their organization as:

The U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization

A community of more than 9,000 organizations from every sector of the building  industry united by a common purpose: to transform the building marketplace to sustainability.

Pine Hall Brick supports USGBC and the concept of sustainability. As noted in other sections, brick is a sustainable building material and fits nicely with USGBC’s mission.

It is important to note that no product gets awarded a  “LEED certification”. Instead,  products contribute towards a design that achieves points in a given category.  A project can achieve LEED certification by accumulating a given number of points between 26 and  69.  For more on LEED: click here to see the brochure Brick Revisited or go to www.USGBC.org.

Using Pine Hall Brick in a design may help in achieving  LEED-NC certification in the following categories:

Sustainable Sites: Credit 6 Stormwater Design

Sustainable Sites: Credit 7 Heat Island Effect-Non Roof

Energy & Atmosphere: Credit 1 Optimize Energy Performance

Materials & Resources: Credit 2 Construction Waste Management

Materials & Resources: Credit 3 Materials Reuse

Materials & Resources: Credit 5 Regional Materials

Inovation & Design: Credit 1.2 Life Cycle Cost & Durability

While not contributing to help achieve a specific LEED credit, the many environmental and energy initiatives practiced by Pine Hall Brick consistantly support the LEED mission.