LEED & Sustainability
9Wood is committed to holistic building design and construction processes. We are an FSC certified Chain-of-Custody manufacturer.
LEED
We find that most environmentally friendly suspended wood ceilings begin with developing a LEED™ specification (see sample 2.0 Guide Spec below). LEED™ (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) provides a definitive standard for what constitutes a "green building". Created by the U.S. Green Building Council, the LEED Green Building Rating System™ evaluates a building's environmental performance from a "whole building" perspective over its entire life cycle. A choice of 69 credits is available to the design team. They serve as voluntary, market-driven building criteria, each representing effective practices and emerging concepts in energy and environmental design.
In the words of the US Green Building Council, LEED was created to:
- define 'green building' by establishing a common standard of measurement,
- promote integrated, whole-building design practices,
- recognize environmental leadership in the building industry,
- stimulate green competition,
- raise consumer awareness of green building benefits,
- transform the building market.
LEED Credits
Four levels of LEED™ certification are available: Platinum (52-69 credits). Gold, (39-51 credits), Silver (33-38 credits), and Certified (26-32 credits). To qualify under one of these four designations, buildings must satisfy all of the LEED prerequisites, such as Asbestos, Smoking Ban, etc. then go on to earn a certain number of credits.
The 69 credits are grouped into 6 areas:
- Sustainable Sites (SS)
- Water Efficiency (WE)
- Energy & Atmosphere (EA)
- Materials & Resources (MR)
- Indoor Environmental Quality (EQ)
- Innovation & Design Processes (ID)
Opportunities for suspended wood ceilings to earn credits are:
- MR Credit 3.1/3.2: Materials Reuse: 5% / 10% (opportunity for 1-2 pts.)
- MR Credit 4.1/4.2: Recycled Content: 10% / 20% (post-consumer + 1/2 pre-consumer, Opportunity for 1-2 pts.)
- MR Credit 5.1/5.2: Regional Materials: 10% / 20% Extracted, Processed and Manufactured Regionally (opportunity for 1-2 pts.)
- MR Credit 6: Rapidly Renewable Materials (opportunity for 1 pt.)
- MR Credit 7: Certified Wood (opportunity for 1 pt.)
- EQ Credit 4.4: Low-Emitting Materials: Composite Wood and Agrifiber Products (opportunity for 1 pt.)