LEED® Certification

What is LEED®?

LEED is a third-party certification program and the nationally accepted benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings. LEED gives building owners and operators the tools they need to have an immediate and measurable impact on their buildings’ performance. LEED promotes a whole-building approach to sustainability by recognizing performance in five key areas of human and environmental health: sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor environmental quality.

USGBC-The United States Green Building Council is a 501 (c)(3) non-profit community of leaders working to make green buildings available to everyone within a generation.  The USGBC is run through committees, attracting members to pay a membership fee which helps fund programs.  Conklin Office Furniture is a member of the United States Green Building Council.

How is LEED Developed?

LEED Rating Systems are developed through an open, consensus-based process led by leed committees.  Each volunteer committee is composed of a diverse group of practitioners and experts representing a cross-section of the building and construction industry. The key elements of USGBC's consensus process include a balanced and transparent committee structure, technical advisory groups that ensure scientific consistency and rigor, opportunities for stakeholder comment and review, member ballot of new rating systems, and a fair and open appeals process.

How Does A Building Get Certified?

A building can be certified by achieving a certain number credits set forth by the LEED rating systems.  Depending on the number of credits attained a building will be designated platinum, gold, or silver.  At the start of a LEED project the company will decide what rating system applies to their project and ultimately what credits within that rating system they will seek.  

LEED Rating Systems

Used office furniture can be applied toward both LEED NC which refers to new construction and major renovations and LEED CI which is commercial interiors.

New Construction

LEED for New Construction and Major Renovations is designed to guide and distinguish high-performance commercial and institutional projects.

Commercial Interiors

LEED for Commercial Interiors is a benchmark for the tenant improvement market that gives the power to make sustainable choices to tenants and designers.

How Does Office Furniture Apply to Green BuildingLEED® Green Building Rating System for New Construction and Major Renovations version 2.2

Materials and Resources Credit 3.1 Resource Reuse

The intent of this credit is to reuse building materials and products in order to reduce demand for virgin materials and to reduce waste, thereby reducing impacts associated with the extraction and processing of virgin resources.

Requirements

Use salvaged, refurbished or reused materials such that the sum of these materials constitutes at least 5%, based on cost, of the total value of the materials on the project.

Mechanical, electrical and plumbing components and specialty items such as elevators and equipment shall not be included in this calculation. Only include materials permanently installed in the project.  Furniture may be included, providing it is included consistently in MR credits 3-7.

Credit 3.2 Resource Reuse

The intent and requirements of this credit are identical to credit 3.1 accept that you must use salvaged, refurbished, or reused building materials and products such that the sum of these materials constitutes at least 10%.

Used Office Furniture Application

We will work with you to calculate your furniture budget and apply that to your overall materials budget. Conklin offers both as-is and completely remanufactured lines of used office furniture.

Credit 4.1 Recycled Content

The intent of this credit is to increase demand for building products that incorporate recycled content materials, thereby reducing impacts resulting from extraction and processing of virgin materials.

Requirements

Use materials with recycled content such that the sum of the post-consumer recycled content plus one-half of the pre-consumer content constitutes at lest 10% (based on cost) of the total value of the materials in the project.  The recycled content value of a material assembly shall be determined by weight.  The recycled fraction of the assembly is then multiplied by the cost of assembly to determine the recycled content value.

Mechanical, electrical, and plumbing components and specialty items such as elevators shall not be included in this calculation.  Only include materials permanently installed in the project.  Furniture may be included, providing it is included consistently in MR credits 3-7.

Post-Consumer Content-refers to items made with materials that have been recycled by the consumer.  Post consumer is considered the best because it has gotten the most possible use.

Pre-Consumer Content-refers to items made with waste from a manufacturing plant where they make products from new material.

Example:  Pre-consumer waste textiles consist of by-product materials from the textile, fiber and cotton industries. According to the Council for Textile Recycling, each year 750,000 tons of this waste is recycled into new raw materials for the automotive, furniture, mattress, coarse yarn, home furnishings, paper and other industries. Through the efforts of this industry approximately 75 per cent of the pre-consumer textile waste that is generated is diverted from landfills and instead recycled. Post-consumer textile waste consists of any type of garments or household article, made of some manufactured textile that the owner no longer needs and decides to throw away. These articles are discarded either because they are worn out, damaged, outgrown, or out of style. They are sometimes given to charities or sold second hand, but more typically are disposed of into the trash and end up in municipal landfills.*Taken from http://www.greenofficestore.com/content/Pre_Post_Consumer_Waste.asp 

Credit 4.2 Recycled Content

The intent and requirements of this credit are identical to credit 4.1 accept that you must use use materials with recycled content such that the sum of the post-consumer recycled content plus one-half of the pre-consumer content constitutes at least 20% (based on cost) of the total value of the materials in the project.

Used Office Furniture Application

When remanufacturing panel systems and chairs our customers have a choice in fabric lines. Conklin offers recycled lines of fabric that can be calculated towards this credit.

Credit 6 Rapidly Renewable Materials

The intent of this credit is to reduce the use and depletion of finite raw materials and long-cycle renewable materials by replacing them with rapidly renewable materials.

Requirements

Use rapidly renewable building materials and products (made from plants that are typically harvested within a ten-year cycle or shorter) for 2.5% of the total value of the building materials and products used in the project, based on cost.

Used Office Furniture Application

It is not uncommon to manufacture new worksurfaces for an existing used cubicle shell, as the worksurfaces are often worn down from use. Conklin offers alternatives to the typical flakeboard. If specified, Conklin can utilize wheatboard as the core of your new worksurfaces that we custom manufacture in-house.

Credit 1-1.4 Innovation and Design

The intent of these credits are to provide design teams and projects the opportunity to be awarded points for exceptional performance above the requirements and/or innovative performance in green building catagorized not specifically addressed.  One aspect that furniture can be applied to the innovation credits is to borrow credit EQ 3.2 from the LEED-CI rating system.   

LEED® Green Bulding Rating System for Commercial Interiors version 2.0

Energy and Atmosphere Credit 1.1

The intent of this credit is to achieve increasing levels of energy conservation beyond the referenced standard to reduce environmental impacts associated with excessive energy use.

Requirements

Reduce connected lighting power density below that allowed by the ASHRAE/IESNA Standard 90.1-2004* using either the Space-by-Space Method or by applying the whole building lighting power allowance to the entire tenant space.

Option A. Reduce lighting power density to 15% below the standard (1 point)

Option B. Reduce lighting power density to 25% below the standard (2 points)

Option C. Reduce lighting power density to 35% below the standard (3 points)

Used Office Furniture Application

Used cubicles and workstations often have task lighting associated with them to increase the usability of the workspace.  Conklin can work with you to provide the wattage of these lights to be considered into this credit.

Materials and Resources Credit 2.1

The intent of this credit is to divert construction, demolition, and packaging debris from the landfill disposal.  Redirect recyclable recovered resources back to the manufacturing process.  Redirect reusable materials to appropriate sites.

Requirements

Develop and implement a construction waste management plan, quantifying material diversion goals.  Recycle and/or salvage at least 50% of construction, demolition, and packaging debris.  Calculations may be done by weight or volume, but must be consistent throughout.

Used Office Furniture Application

When purchasing furniture there is a certain amount of packaging material necessary to keep the product safe during shipment.  When purchasing from Conklin we use as little disposable packaging as possible.  Our shipments are carefully packed utilizing shipping blankets and corrugated cardboard that we are able to reuse time and time again.  Once your order has been placed we can work with you to let you know exactly what to expect for packaging and the best ways to recycle that material.

Credit 3.3 Resource Reuse

The intent of this credit is to reuse building materials and products in order to reduce demand for virgin materials and to reduce waste, thereby reducing impacts associated with the extraction and processing of virgin resources.

Requirements

Use salvaged, refurbished or used furniture and furnishings for 30% of the total furniture and furnishings budget.

Used Office Furniture Application

We will work with you to calculate your furniture budget and apply that to your overall materials budget.  Conklin offers both as-is and completely remanufactured lines of used office furniture.

Credit 4.1 Recycled Content

The intent of this credit is to increase demand for building products that incorporate recycled content materials, therefore reducing impacts resulting from extraction and processing of virgin materials.  *See definitions above for clarification.

Requirements

Use materials, including furniture and furnishings, with recycled content such that the sum of the post-consumer recycled content plus one-half of the post-industrial content constitutes at least 10% of the total value of the materials in the project.  The value of the recycled content portion of a material or furnishings shall be determined by dividing the weight of the recycled content in the item by the total weight of all materials in the item, then multiplying the resulting percentage by the total cost of the item. 

Credit 4.2 Recycled Content

The intent and requirements of this credit are identical to credit 4.1 accept that you must use materials, including furniture and furnishings, with recycled content such that the sum of the post-consumer recycled content plus one-half of the post-industrial content constitutes at least 20% of the total value of the materials in the project.  

Used Office Furniture Application

When remanufacturing panel systems and chairs our customers have a choice in fabric lines.  Conklin offers recycled lines of fabric that can be calculated towards this credit. 

Credit 5.1 Regional Materials

The intent of this credit is to increase demand for building materials and products that are extracted and manufactured within the region, thereby supporting the regional economy and reducing the environmental impacts resulting from transportation.

Requirements

Use a minimum of 20% of the combined value of construction and furniture materials and products that are manufactured regionally within a radius of 500 miles.

Manufacturing refers to the final assembly of the components into the building products that is furnished and installed by the tradesmen. 

Used Office Furniture Application

When purchasing used cubicles is not uncommon for the worksurfaces to be pretty well worn as they see the most action throughout the work day.  As a result, Conklin often manufactures new laminate worksurfaces at our warehouse in Holyoke, MA.  If your project is located within 500 miles of our warehouse the cost of the worksurfaces could apply towards this credit.

Credit 6 Rapidly Renewable Materials

The intent of this credit is to reduce the use and depletion of finite raw materials and long-cycle renewable materials by replacing them with rapidly renewable materials.

Requirements

Use rapidly renewable construction and furniture and furnishings materials and products, made from plants that are typically harvested within a 10-year or shorter cycle, for 5% of the total value of all the materials and products used in the project.

Used Office Furniture Application

As mentioned earlier it is not uncommon to manufacture new worksurfaces for an existing used cubicle shell, as the worksurfaces are often worn down from use.  Conklin offers alternatives to the typical flakeboard.  If specified, Conklin can utilize wheatboard as the core of your new worksurfaces that we custom manufacture in-house. 

Indoor Environmental Quality Credit 3.2

The intent of this credit is to reduce indoor air quality problems resulting from the construction/renovation process, to sustain long-term worker and occupant comfort and well-being.

Requirements

The requirements for this credit are extensive but if this is a credit that your company is working towards please make Conklin aware of that during the planning process.

Used Office Furniture Application

Once your furniture has been installed it is understandable to expect some off gassing.  The good news is that off-gassing occurs after a piece of furniture has been manufactured and since you are purchasing a used product the off-gassing has already occured.  Therefore, the only materials that you would need to worry about would be the new paint and fabric applied during the remanufacturing process.  Conklin utilizes powder coating for our painting process which contains no volatile organic compounds as a result the only thing that off-gasses is a small amount of water vapor which escapes during the painting process, there is no off-gassing once the furniture has been installed on site.  If a green line of recycled fabric was chosen then the off-gassing would be minimal with the new fabric. 

Credit 1-1.4 Innovation and DesignThe intent of these credits are to provide design teams and projects the opportunity to be awarded points for exceptional performance above the requirements and/or innovative performance in green building catagorized not specifically addressed.