It's not easy being green: what the LBM industry needs to know about the LEED Green Building Rating System

Prosales, Dec, 2004 by T.J. Cantwell

If you sell wood products, you need to know more about the U.S. Green Building Council's (USGBC) Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Green Building Rating System. The National Lumber and Building Material Dealers Association (NLBMDA) believes that LEED, as written today, raises serious concerns for the future use of wood products in construction.

LEED is a system developed by the USGBC to accelerate the development and implementation of green building practices. The goal of the USGBC is to make LEED the "leading-edge system for designing, constructing, and certifying the world's greenest and best buildings." There are currently several LEED rating systems for commercial construction, but most importantly for pro dealers, there is a proposed plan for a LEED system for residential homes, LEED-H.

NLBMDA and several other industry associations have identified several significant flaws in the overall structure of LEED and more significantly in the proposed guidelines for the use of wood products in construction. Though green building and LEED are still in their infancy in the construction market, we fear that due to the rapid growth of the USGBC and the continued recommendation of the LEED system as the green building guideline by federal and state agencies for government construction, LEED will become the de facto green building standard across the country. We feel that a flawed standard such as LEED combined with a growing awareness and demand by consumers for green building could cause a future decrease in the use of wood and significant restrictions on dealers trying to supply materials to and compete for green building projects.

It is important to understand that "green" or sustainable building, done fairly mad scientifically, has numerous environ mental and commercial benefits for everyone and should continue to be promoted and used. It should also be noted that LEED has several supporters among dealers and manufacturers that have benefited from the increase in sales due to the demand for green building. However, NLBMDA and other associations believe that there are several problems that need to be addressed before LEED or any other green building rating system is promulgated.

NLBMDA believes the current LEED system lacks important scientific research. The LEED eating system is inherently unfair because it was not developed through a true consensus-based process. The USGBC prohibits building material trade associations from joining the organization and providing input on the LEED system. By excluding organizations such as the American Forest and Paper Association, NLBMDA, and several other trade associations, the final system was skewed toward a small, unrepresentative segment of the construction industry. The USGBC continues to prevent trade associations from directly participating in the organization and, despite promises of better access to information, there are few ways for building material industry associations to make their voices heard in the creation of LEED-H.

NLBMDA also believes current LEED rating systems ignore important and widely accepted scientific research. LEED does not use life-cycle assessment (LCA) in the determination of what are recyclable, renewable and environmentally friendly products. Since LEED does not use LCA, steel and other alternative products are viewed as equal or better green building alternatives than wood. The lack of LCA use in LEED has similar impacts on other building material products, making certain alternative products appear more environmentally friendly despite scientific studies that prove otherwise.

The LEED rating system has four certification levels for buildings: certified, silver, gold, and platinum. An increasing number of points must be earned for a building to achieve each subsequent level of certification. There are many different areas of construction that LEED awards points for, such as energy and atmosphere, water efficiency, and indoor environmental air quality, but the most important portion for the building products industry is the section on materials and resources, which covers several different types of products such as vinyl and insulation. Most importantly, we believe, it provides guidelines and a point structure for the sourcing and use of wood products that NLBMDA feels is detrimental to the forest products industry and pro dealers.

* LEED only rewards points for using Forest Stewardship Council (FSC)-certified wood materials. This ignores severn other well-recognized forest management systems, such as the Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI), Canadian Standards Association (CSA), and the American Tree Farm System. It also excludes non-industrial U.S. and foreign-managed forests that are not certified under FSC. This significantly limits dealers and the places they can source wood materials from if they are supplying a LEED project. The long-term effect may be a reduced supply and increase in demand, leading to greater competition and higher prices. It may also put smaller dealers at a disadvantage to larger dealers that can purchase and source at greater quantities and distances.