Date: June 19, 2008
The LEED™ (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Green Building Rating System promulgated by the U.S. Green Building Council is a voluntary, consensus-based national standard for developing high-performance, sustainable buildings. LEED provides a complete framework for assessing building performance and meeting sustainable site development, water savings, energy efficiency, materials selection and indoor environmental quality. LEED recognizes achievements and promotes expertise in green building through a comprehensive system offering project certification, professional accreditation, training and practical resources. Manufacturers can assist architects and builders realize their commitment to sustainable environmental solutions, and many of these solutions begin with a resource comprised from one of earth’s most plentiful recyclables…aluminum.
Specifically, Here is how Keymark Corporation can help end-users earn credits for LEED certification:
Thermally broken and thermally strutted processes for improved thermal performance for storefront, curtain wall, and commercial window applications help meet the LEED requirement to “reduce energy costs compared to the energy cost budgets for energy systems regulated by ASHRAE/IESNA Standard 90.1-1999 (without amendments) as demonstrated by the whole building simulation using the Energy Cost Budget Method described in Section 11 of the standards.” Achieving this goal is worth two LEED credit points.
Aluminum can be high in recycled content. For example, Keymark Corporation uses an aluminum billet consisting of a recycled content of 64% (41% – Pre-Consumer & 23% – Post Consumer) . This meets the LEED requirements 4.1 and 4.2 for using “materials with recycled content such that the sum of the post-consumer recycled content plus one-half of the pre-consumer content constitutes 10% or 20% (based on cost) of the total value of the materials in the project.” This aspect is worth one LEED credit point.
Strategically positioned manufacturing centers can localize sourcing. For example, Keymark Corporation has two plants located in Fonda, NY and Lakeland, FL, which allows us to effectively service the entire East Coast. This helps meet LEED requirements 5.1 that a project must “use a minimum of 20% of building materials and products that are manufactured regionally within a radius of 500 miles” and 5.2, which states that “of the regionally manufactured materials documented for MR credit 5.1, use a minimum of 50% of building materials and products that are extracted, harvested or recovered (as well as manufactured) within 500 miles of the projects site.” This aspect is worth an additional LEED credit point.
A sustainable manufacturing process also meets the spirit of LEED by reducing the “environmental impacts related to materials manufacturing and transport.” Keymark Corporation uses scrubber units that remove harmful volatiles that would otherwise result in airborne emissions, paint line solvents are 100% recycled on-site and recovered for reuse, anodizing solutions are reprocessed and re-used, and both cardboard packaging and office waste are recycled.
We have made a company-wide commitment to sustainable environmental solutions that keeps our community environmentally clean and allows our customers to use our aluminum extrusions to help achieve their LEED ratings for a green building.
Ask your Keymark Representative how Keymark can help you get the results you are looking for.