This is my own study notes for LEED Green Associate Exam which i'd like to share it with you, I passed the exam in Oct-16-2012

2.  LEED Green Associate Flash Cards for Exam
Preparation.
 Primary Source of Slides: LEED Green
Associate Study Guide, Second Edition,
Studio4LLC.
 Based on LEED V3 Rating Systems
Prepared by: Melad Alaqra, PMP

3. INTRODUCTION
LEED Rating Systems

4.  Passive design: taking advantage of the sun
and wind.
 Regenerative Projects: support the health,
generate electricity and send back to the grid.
Its goal to achieve “net zero”.
 The triple bottom line: People (Social), Planet
(Environmental), Profit (Economic).

5.  Built Environment: buildings, land use and
transportation systems.
 Credit Categories for LEED:
◦ Sustainable Sites.
◦ Water Efficiency.
◦ Energy and Atmosphere.
◦ Materials and Resources.
◦ Indoor Environmental Quality.
◦ Innovation in Design.
◦ Regional Priority.

6.  Adaptive Reuse: reusing a building for a purpose
other than which it was built or designed for.
 Net-Zero: where projects use no more resources
than they can produce.
 Net Zero Carbon Footprint (Carbon Neutrality): by
balancing a measured amount of carbon released
with an equivalent sequestered or offset, or
buying enough carbon credits to make up the
difference.

7.  Water Balance: using no more water than
what is received by collecting precipitation.
 Zero Waste: produce no waste by reuse,
recycle, or compositing all waste generated.
 Retro-commissioning: Commitment to
reevaluate the building systems. It is
analogous to taking our car back to the
dealer or mechanic for periodic, scheduled
inspections and tune-ups.

8.  Energy Star: U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency EPA program focuses on improving
energy performance in buildings as a method of
reducing greenhouse gas emissions.
 Energy Star buildings consumes 35% less energy
than their non-Energy Star counterparts.
 Space heating consumes 38% of energy which is
the largest consumer of energy. The lighting
consumes 20% of energy produces.

9.  Commissioning:
◦ Reduces energy use.
◦ Lower operating costs.
◦ Reduced contractor callbacks.
◦ Better building documentation.
◦ Improved occupant productivity.
◦ Verification that the systems perform in accordance
with the owners project requirements.

10.  U.S. Green Building Council USGBC, 1993, committee
based, member driven, consensus focused.
 Green Building Certification institute GBCI, 2008.
 LEED: Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design
1998.
◦ Certifications for projects.
◦ Accreditation for individuals.
◦ Companies or products are neither accredited nor certified.
 Organizations can obtain membership to USGBC
national organization. Individuals can become
members of USGBC regional chapters.

11.  Building that don’t primarily serve K-12
educational, retail, or designated healthcare
uses.
 High rise (7+stories) residential buildings.

12.  Buildings made up of core and ancillary
learning spaces on K-12 school grounds.
 Buildings made up of core and ancillary
learning spaces on non K-12 school grounds.
 Non-academic buildings on school campuses.

13.  Buildings that serve individuals who seek
medical treatment.
 Buildings with other kinds of medically-
related uses, such as medical, dental and
veterinary offices and clinics, assisted
facilities and medical education and research
centers.

14.  Buildings or interiors dedicated to the sale of
goods and commodities directly to
consumers who come into the premise for the
purpose of obtaining those goods or
commodities, such as banks and restaurants.

15.  Homes:
◦ Low rise (1-3) stories residential buildings.
◦ The LEED for Homes Multi-Family Midrise rating
system is appropriate for midrise (4-6 stories)
residential buildings.
 Commercial Interiors:
◦ Interiors dedicated to functions other than retail.

16.  Rating system appropriate for 40% of gross
area of LEED project, should not be used.
 Rating system appropriate for 60% of gross
area of LEED project, should be used.
 Not fall into above scenarios, team must
access their situation and decide which rating
system is most appropriate.

17.  Buildings under NC, CS or schools may also
be certified under EB O&M.
 Buildings certified under CS may also be
certified under CI.
 LEED Neighborhood Development may earn
additional points for construction or retrofit
of certified buildings which are part of the
development.

18.  Site Selection:
◦ Type of land.
◦ Location relative to neighborhood.
◦ Density and mass transit.
◦ Regulating vehicle parking and use.
 Site Design:
◦ Impact on land consumption.
◦ Ecosystems.
◦ Natural resources.
◦ Energy use.

19.  The use and disposal of building water by:
◦ Reduce indoor potable water consumption.
◦ Provide water efficient landscaping.
◦ Reduce amount of energy consumption for both
production and use of potable water.

20.  Relating to building energy consumption.
 Reduce energy required for operations.
 Use more environmentally friendly ways to
produce energy.

21.  Materials Selection.
 Waste Disposal.
 Waste reduction by:
◦ Select sustainable materials.
◦ Reduce waste at its source.
◦ Reuse and recycling.

22.  Indoor Environmental Quality.
 Occupants health.
 Safety and Comfort.
 Energy Consumption.
 Air change effectiveness.
 Air contaminant management.

23.  Incorporate innovative and sustainable building
features that improve performance above and
beyond the LEED rating system requirements.
 Exemplary performance and innovative
performance.
 Having LEED AP involved in project team.
 No prerequisite offer exemplary performance
points.

24.  Offer incentives for the achievement of
credits that address geographically specific
environmental priorities.

25.  Innovation and Design Process.
 Location and Linkages.
 Sustainable Sites.
 Water Efficiency.
 Energy and Atmosphere.
 Materials and Resources.
 Indoor Environmental Quality.
 Awareness and Education.

26.  Smart Location and Linkages.
 Neighborhood pattern and design to create
compact, walkable and integrated communities,
mixed use.
 Green Infrastructure and Buildings, promotes
sustainable communities and not just a project.
 Innovation in design and Regional priority.

27.  Prerequisites (Mandatory), Credits (Non-
Mandatory).
 All prerequisites plus some of optional credits
to become certified.
 Each have one or more requirements to be
achieved.

28.  Federal, state and local laws or codes will
always trump LEED required standards, if
more stringent.
 Declarant responsible for signing off on the
prerequisite or credit.

29.  Give clear guidance to the customer.
 Protect the integrity of the LEED program.
 Reduce complications that occur during the
LEED certification process.

30.  Must comply with environmental laws.
 Must be a complete, permanent building or
space.
 Must use a reasonable site boundary.
 Must comply with minimum floor area
requirements.
 Must comply with minimum occupancy rates.
 Must commit to sharing whole building
energy and water usage data.
 Must comply with a minimum building area to
site area ratio.

31.  The boundary that may not unreasonably
exclude sections of land to create boundaries
in unreasonable shapes for the sole purpose
of complying with prerequisites or credits.

32.  For new construction and Core& Shell:
minimum of 1000 square feet (93 square
meter) of gross floor area.
 For Commercial Interiors: 250 square feet (22
square meter) of gross floor area.

33.  One or more FTE (full time equivalent).
 All certified projects must commit to sharing
whole-project energy and water usage for a
period at least 5 years starts from typical
physical occupancy or date of certification for
EB O&M certified buildings.

34.  The gross floor area of the project building
must be no less than 2% of the gross land
area within the LEED project boundary.

35.  Wingspread principles on a U.S. response to
global warming: a set of propositions signed
by organizations and individuals declaring
their commitment to addressing the issue of
climate change.
 Call for reducing greenhouse gas emissions
60%-80% below 1990 levels by mid century.

36.  USGBC identifies and prioritizes LEED credits
based on their relative value for greenhouse
gas emissions reduction.
 Carbon Overlay: quantitative index of the
relative importance of individual credits.
 Building’s carbon footprint is the total
greenhouse gas emissions associated with its
construction and operation.

37.  LEED Online automatically determines a
project’s regional priority credits based on its
ZIP code.
 Six credits with specific priority.
 Max of four points can be earned.
 USGBC website contains a searchable
database of regional priority credits.

38.  LEED Technical Advisory Groups (TAGs): provide
technical advice with respect to LEED.
 LEED Pilot credit Library is intended to facilitate
the introduction of new credits to LEED and is an
important tool for advancing LEED.
 LEEDuser.com posted the official language for it.
 Projects can participate.

39.  All LEED rating systems (except LEED for
homes) have 100 base points+ 6 ID+
4RP=110 points.
 LEED for homes have 125 point scale+11ID.
 Certification Levels:
◦ Certified: 40-49 points.
◦ Silver: 50-59 points.
◦ Gold: 60-79 points.
◦ Platinum: 80+ points.

40.  Register at GBCI which provide access to
LEEDonline.
 Project certification is a 6-step process, 5
formal steps not including the process of
determining if LEED is right for the project.

41.  Initially registers the project via LEEDonline.
 Main contact with GBCI.
 Can be replaced after registration.
 Provides project information when registering
via LEEDonline.
 Invites team members for access to
LEEDonline.
 Assigns credit responsibility to team
members.

42.  Project Checklist forms by GBCI, can determine
which LEED rating system and level of
certification would be best suited for the project.
Also called LEED credit Scorecard.
 Credit Templates and calculators can be accessed
only by the project administrator and invited
project team members via LEEDonline.
 The documentations required for submittal must
be signed by Declarant.

43.  Only the LEED project administrator is eligible to submit an application for review.
 Two options for application review:
◦ Split review: credits and prerequisites can be submitted during design. And must be
submitted during construction. Each reviewed prerequisite and credit is designated as
'anticipated' or 'denied, and is accompanied by technical advice as deemed appropriate by
the review team. All project information forms are designated as 'approved' or 'not
approved', and are accompanied by technical advice as deemed appropriate by the review
team
◦ Combined review: all prerequisites and credits are submitted at or after the completion of
construction. Each reviewed prerequisite and credit is designated as 'awarded', or 'denied,
and is accompanied by technical advice as deemed appropriate by the review team. All
project information forms are designated as 'approved' or 'not approved', and are
accompanied by technical advice as deemed appropriate by the review team
• If, however, the GBCI reviewer denies approval, the project team for a fee can
appeal the decision.

44.  Authorities permit occupancy prior to receipt
of certificate of occupancy during substantial
completion.
 Certificate of occupancy: official notice by
building authorities having jurisdiction that
the project conforms to applicable building
and safety codes.

45.  Stage one projects: review prior to
completion of entitlement as conditionally
approved LEED ND plan.
 Stage two projects: certification of an
approved development plan. Pre-certified.
 Stage three projects: review of an approved
development plan, a formal certificate as:
LEED Certified Neighborhood Development.

46.  By LEED for Homes Provider (NOT GBCI).
 The only communication between the project and
USGBC is during project registration.
 LEED for Homes Provider is a third party
verification.
 Green Raters: subordinate to providers and
perform the field inspections and performance
testing.

47.  Allow project team to obtain technical and administration
guidance on how LEED requirements, including MPRs,
prerequisites and credits pertain to their projects.
 CIR: specific issue, 5000 characters including spaces 600
words, no attachments, no cut sheets, no plans or
drawings. Exception for LEED for Neighborhood projects
which are allowed to submit site plan. Not letter
format.220$.
 LEED interpretations: can be applied to multiple projects
and ratings systems.
 LEED Interpretations approval takes longer than CIR.

48.  Developed to honor and recognize
distinguished LEED AP who have made a
significant contribution to the field of green
building and sustainability. Nominees must
be nominated by their peers.

49.  Earn Continuing Education CE hours.
 LEED GA 15 CE hours biennially (every 2
years).
 LEED AP 30 CE hours biennially as well as
additional hours for additional specialties.
 50$ biennial renewal fee for all.
 Report CE hours earned during the 2 year
reporting cycle.

50.  Credits Harmonization: the credits and
prerequisites are consistent across all LEED
2009 rating system.
 Credit Weightings: LEED awards more points
for strategies that will have greater positive
impacts on what matters most Energy
Efficiency and CO2 reductions, each credit
was evaluated against a list of 13
environmental impact categories.

51. SUSTAINABLE SITES

52.  Transportation accounting for 33% of the
greenhouse gas emissions 2008.
 Sustainable Sites addresses environmental
concerns related to both site selection and
site development.
 Smart Growth: an urban planning and
transportation theory that concentrates
growth in compact walkable urban centers to
avoid sprawl.

53.  Energy and Atmosphere then sustainable
sites categories offer the most points to the
project in order.
 For any registered LEED project, two pieces of
information to be submitted: LEED Boundary
and Full Time Equivalents FTEs.

54.  Building Footprint: area of the building structure.
Pavement and landscaping are not included.
 Development Footprint: area of the site impacted
by the project.
 Property Boundary: total area within the legal
boundaries of the site.
 LEED project boundary: any given parcel of real
property that is attributed to a single LEED
project building.

55.  Two options to achieve credit for urban
redevelopment:
 Development Density:
◦ Previously developed or infill site in a community with a
minimum density of 60,000 square feet per acre.
 Community Connectivity:
◦ Previously developed or infill site within ½ mile to 10
unit/acre.
AND
◦ Previously developed or infill site within ½ mile to 10
basic services unobstructed pedestrian access.

56.  Average density of project and surrounding
community should be of min. 60000 sf/acre.
 Restore Brownfield sites.
 Protect habitat: select sites that do not
include sensitive site elements and land types
such as: see the next slide

57.  Prime farmland as defined by the U.S department of agriculture
USDA.
 Less than 5 feet above areas defined by FEMA as being in the
100 year flood plain. “ the flood elevation that has 1% chance of
being reached or exceeded each year”.
 Land that is habitat for threatened or endangered species.
 Within 100 feet of wetlands as defined by Code of Federal
regulations.
 Within 50 feet of a body of water as regulated by the Clean Water
Act CWA.
 Public Parklands.

58.  Community Connectivity:
◦ Previously developed site AND within ½ mile of a
residential neighborhood with an average density of
10 units/acre AND within ½ mile of ten basic
community services.
 Mass Transit:
◦ Unobstructed walking distance within ½ mile of
commuter rail, light rail.
◦ Or ¼ mile of one or more bus stops for two or more
bus lines usable by building occupants.

59.  Prevents loss of soil, sedimentation and
pollution. Using mulching, erosion control
blankets, straw bales, berms and silt fence.
 Efficient Hardscapes: hard surfaces with
permeable (pervious) surfaces.
 Minimize the amount of hard surfaces such
as parking lots.

60.  Minimize water usage
◦ Use water efficient irrigation systems.
◦ Use native or adaptive landscaping.
 Use reflective materials with high SRI to minimize
heat island impacts.
 Sustainable management plan:
◦ Consideration of type of chemicals used for cleaning
exterior surfaces, snow removal.
◦ Develop an integrated pest management program.

61.  Access to mass transit networks
◦ Commuter rail, light rail, or subway system.
◦ Public, campus or private bus lines usable by
occupants.
◦ Shuttle service from project to transit lines.
 Reduce employee parking size
◦ Parking not to exceed existing minimum local code
requirements.
◦ Shared parking with other buildings.
◦ Provide alternatives to single occupant vehicles.

62.  Encourage car pooling and van pooling.
 Provide reserved parking spaces located near
building entrances for building occupants who
car pool to work.
 Low emission and Fuel-Efficient Vehicles (FEV):
◦ On-site fueling stations.
◦ Provide FEV or offer incentives for employee FEV
ownership.
◦ For schools, investigate trade-offs for alternative fuel
vehicles.

63.  Promote alternative or incentives to single-
occupancy vehicle commuting.
 Provide secured spaces and changing rooms
for bicycle use.
 Reduced parking rates for car pooling or
alternative fuel vehicles.
 Assist employees with parking fees for public
parking.

64. •Use pervious hardscape.
•Minimize impervious surfaces.
•Grid pavers.
•Vegetated roof.
•Control Stormwater: redirect the flow and rate.
•Harvest rainwater: collect and reuse.

65.  Retention and detention ponds.
 Rain Garden.
 Bioswales.
 Vegetated strips.
 Capture rainwater for reuse in such areas as
irrigation, flushing toilets and urinals, and
custodial.

66.  Rainfall and snow onto impervious surfaces
doesn’t filtrate back into the earth and
aquifer, but rather washes the surfaces and
sends the contaminants to our waterway.
 Low Impact Development: addresses how
stormwater enters a site, is temporary stored
and how the stormwater exits the site.

67.  An urban area which is significantly warmer than its surrounding
areas by 2 to 10 degrees.
 Evapotanspiration: the release of water from plants into the
atmosphere.
 Emissivity: the ability of material to emit heat by radiation.
 Solar reflectance (Albedo): measure of material ability to reflect
sunlight.
 Solar Reflectance Index SRI: the measure of materials to reject
solar heat.
 Lower Emissivity and higher Albedo and SRI is the ideal
relationship and is Cool pavements or cool roofs.

68.  Reduce area of hardscape.
 Shading: of 50% of the total hardscape area.
◦ Shade from exisiting tree canopy or, for new trees, within 5
years of installations.
◦ Shade from structures covered by solar panel produce
renewable energy.
◦ Shade from architectural feature with at least 29 SRI.
 Cool pavements: 29 SRI.
 Open grid pavement systems which are at least 50% pervious.
 Place a minimum of parking spaces under cover, at least 29
SRI.

69.  Cool roof: use roofing materials for 75% of the
roof surface with controlled SRI value “ 78 for low
slope roofs less than or equal 2:12, 29 SRI for
steep sloped roofs greater than 2:12”.
 Green roofs: 50% vegetated roofs.
 High SRI and Green roofs meet the following:
(Area of roof meeting minimum SRI/0.75)+(area of vegetated roof/0.5)= Total roof
area.

70.  Sky Glow: Reduction in observation in night skies.
 Strategies for reducing Light Pollution:
◦ Utilize indirect interior lighting.
◦ Shut off non-emergency lighting: reduce power to interior
lights with a direct line of sight to building envelope
openings such as windows with shut off during off hours.
◦ Automatic shielding: for all non- emergency lighting with a
direct line of sight to building envelope.
◦ For exterior: design lighting with computer model, accurate
control of illumination level ASHREA 90.1.
◦ Only light areas required for safety and comfort.
◦ Shut off or reduce lighting for landscaping or façade (non
essential lighting).
◦ Use full cut off light fixtures.

71.  Full cut off lighting prevents wasteful up-lighting
above a horizontal plane, reduces glare and helps
prevent light trespass.
 Low angle spot lights help reduce glare, lighting
unnecessary surfaces and wasting energy lighting
the sky.
 Low reflectance surfaces reduce light reflectance
and trespass.
 Classify project lighting zone complying with
IESNA RP-33

72.  LZ1- Dark (Park and rural settings)
 LZ2- Low (residential areas and
neighborhood business districts)
 LZ3- Medium (Commercial/ Industrial and
high density residential)
 LZ4- High ( Major City centers and
entertainment districts)
 School sports fields are excluded from
requirements, but must have automatic shut
off.

73.  Zero Emission Vehicle is defined by the
California Air Resources Board ( CARB).

74. WATER EFFICIENCY

75.  Indoor Water use reduction.
 Outdoor water use reduction.
 Process water use reduction.
 Innovative Wastewater Technologies.

76.  Water Efficiency measure in commercial buildings can reduce
water use by 30% or more.
 Mandates a 20% reduction over the building baseline and awards
2,3 and 4 points for further reductions of 30%, 35% and 40%.
 Use water efficient flush and flow fixtures.
 Consider alternative water sources for non potable water
requirements.
 Reducing water use can reduce energy consumption.
 Reduce water consumption can reduce the burden on water
treatment facilities.

77.  Outdoor water uses account for 30% of 26
billion gallons of potable water used daily.
Strategies:
o Use landscaping that not required permanent
irrigation. (Native and Adaptive plants)
o Using captured rainwater, recycled wastewater or
water treated by public agency for non-potable use.
o Use effective and efficient water practices.

78.  Reducing wastewater conveyance by using
water conserving flush and flow fixtures.
 Using non-potable water for use in low
quality water requirements

79.  Process water: applies to building equipment.
 Reduce it.
 Consider compositing food waste for garbage
disposals.
 LEED promotes process water reduction only by
complying with:
◦ No refrigeration equipment using once-through cooling
with potable water.
◦ No garbage disposals.
◦ At least 4 process items where water use is less than that
specified for certain equipment types ( e.g. dishwashers,
clothes washers, ice machines, etc..)

80.  For new construction: total number of building
occupants of the following types:
◦ Full time staff.
◦ Part time staff.
◦ Peak Transients (Students, volunteers, visitors…)
◦ Residents.
 For schools: total number of building occupants
of the following types: Full time and part time
staff, students above grade 3 and peak
transients.

81.  Regular building occupant who spends 40 hours per week
in the project building.
 Multiple shifts are included for credits that require annual
calculations as with annual potable water consumption and
wastewater generation.
 Full time Equivalent building occupants: total number of
hours all building occupants spend in the building during
the peak 8hrs occupancy period divided by 8hrs.
 8 hour full time occupant has 1.0 FTE value.
 Buildings with multiple shifts, only the shift with higher
volume is used.

82.  Gallons per flush (gpf): measurement of water used by flush
fixtures (water closets and urinals) per EPAct 1992, baseline
rates for water closets is 1.6 gpf and urinals is 1.0 gpf.
 Gallons per minute (gpm): measurement of water used by flow
fixtures (Faucets, showerheads, aerators, sprinkler head).
 Uniform Plumbing Code UPC defines Grey Water as wastewater
that has not come in contact with toilet waste.
 Black Water: wastewater come from Toilets and Urinals.
 Process water: water used for industrial process and building
systems. Also includes commercial appliances such as clothes
washers, ice makers and dishwashers.

83.  Standard plumbing fixtures used today are regulated
by the Energy Policy Act of 1992 (EPAct).
 Water Balance Approach: use strategies that capture
rain water for non-potable, irrigation and process
water use.
 Use meters and sub-meters to determine systems
water usage and to locate leaks.
 Conventional toilets 1.6 gpf
 Conventional Urinals 1.0 gpf
 Conventional Lavatory (bathroom) Faucets 2.2 gpm.
 Conventional Kitchen Faucets 2.2 gpm.
 Conventional showerheads 2.5 gpm.
 Uniform Plumbing Code 2006 section 402.0 defines
water conserving fixtures and fittings.

84.  Install water efficient plumbing fixtures.
 WaterSense: is an EPA sponsored partnership
program that promotes water efficiency for
water-efficient products, programs and
practices.
 Use non-potable water ( captured rainwater,
gray water or municipality claimed
wastewater for flush type fixtures.
 Install submeters to monitor consumption
and locate leaks.

85.  Zoned Landscaping according to the irrigation requirements.
 Install locally adaptive landscaping or native.
 Xeriscaping: landscape concept consider the whole of the
landscaping design that require little or no irrigation. Includes
analysis of existing soil, water efficient irrigation and
maintenance considerations.
 Mulching: retains water and prevent water evaporation.
 Reduce turf grasses that require large amounts of water.
 Efficient irrigation systems: drip and bubbler are the most
efficient, weather based controllers use weather and soil
conditions to determine irrigation requirements.
 Use nonpotable water for irrigation.
 Install submeters to monitor consumption and locate leaks.
 Maintenance program of lawn and landscaping.

86.  Use water conserving fixtures, nonpotable
water or municipality treated wastewater.
 Treat on-site wastewater to tertiary
standards.

87. ENERGY
&
ATMOSPHERE

88.  Buildings consume 39% of the energy and
74% of electricity produced in U.S.
 Nonrenewable fossil fuels found in three
forms: Coal, Oil, and natural Gas.
 Hydroelectric Generation can disrupt natural
water flows.
 Energy and Atmosphere has the max. number
of points.
 EA category concerns about Energy and
Refrigerants.

89.  Owner’s Project Requirements
 Basis of Design.
 Project Program.
 Design and Construction.
 EPA’s Energy Star TargetFinder: an Online tool
that allow Planners to set an aggressive
energy performance target for building
design and compare estimated energy
consumption to the established target. (LEED
for School prerequisite).

90.  Two key elements of energy efficiency:
◦ Verifying the building and building systems.
◦ Monitoring of these systems after occupancy.
 Baseline of energy performance complies with
Appendix G of ASHRAE Standard 90.1.
 Two types of energy: Regulated Energy and Process
Energy.

91.  Regulated Energy (the Major): powers
lighting, HVAC and service water heating.
 Process Energy (the Minor): runs office
equipment, computers, elevators, escalators,
kitchen cooking and refrigeration, laundry
washing and drying, lighting that is exempt
from the lighting power allowance and
miscellaneous items (e.g.: lighting integral to
medical equipment).

92.  Photovoltaic.
 Wind Energy.
 Solar Thermal: active and passive.
 Biofuels: from organic materials such as wood
by-products and agricultural waste.
 Geothermal heating.
 Low impact hydroelectric.
 Wave and Tidal.

93.  Generate onsite renewable energy based on
energy costs not energy consumption.
 Purchase offsite renewable energy based on
energy quantity consumption not costs and
must be at least 2 year contract for at least
35% of building electricity consumption.

94.  Open Electricity Market: Governing Utility
company may be able to select a Green-e
certified provider.
 Closed Electricity Market: governing utility
compancy may be a Green-e certified provider.
 If local utility company cannot provide Green-e
certified power, Owner may purchase renewable
energy certificates. (RECs).

95.  Two major criteria for Green-e certification:
◦ The energy source meets the requirements for
renewable resources detailed by Green-e Standard.
◦ The renewable energy provider has undergone an
independent third party verification that the
standard has been met.
Green-e Equivalent is not certified but equivalent to
the 2 above criteria.

96.  RECs, Green Tags, Renewable Electricity
Certificates or Tradable Renewable
Certificates (TRCs).
 Tradable, nonTangable energy commodities
in the united states.
 Represent proof that 1 megawatt-hour of
electricity was generated from an eligible
renewable energy resource ( renewable
electricity).

97.  Interactive tool that allows the owner or
project team to track and assess energy and
water consumption across an entire portfolio
of buildings.

98.  Should be initiated at the beginning of the
project.
 Systems to be commissioned are:
◦ HVAC&R systems and related controls.
◦ Lighting and Daylighting controls.
◦ Domestic hot water systems.
◦ Renewable energy system.

99.  Fundamental Commissioning For projects less than
50,000 ft2, the CxA may be involved in the project as
an associate of the contractor, construction manager,
architect, or engineer and may have other project
responsibilities. For projects over that size, the CxA
may be still be from the same firm as a project team
member, as long as he or she is not otherwise
involved in the project. In both cases an independent
consultant contracted to the owner is also an option,
and may bring more value by offering better
objectivity and a different perspective than someone
associated with the design team.
 For the Enhanced Commissioning credit, an
independent consultant is required to be the CxA.

100.  Pre-design, Design:
◦ Designate the Commissioning Authority.
◦ Document Owner’s Project Requirements.
◦ Develop Basis of Design.
◦ Develop Commissioning Plan.
 Construction:
o Review Contractor Submittals applicable to installed systems.
o Verify installation and performance.
o Develop systems manual for commissioned systems.
 Occupancy:
o Review building operation within 10 months after substantial
completion.

101.  Energy Star Portfolio Manager: A score of 50 in
Energy Star means the average performance.
 Calibrated Simulation.
 Energy Conservation Method as specified by
International Performance Measurement and
Verification Protocol (IPMVP) Volume III.
 Advanced Buildings Core Performance Guide
related to Optimize Energy Performance.

102.  CFC: Stable and long life, Greatest Ozone Depletion
Potential, banned in 1995.
 HCFC: Stable and short life not as great as CFC in ODP,
phase out plan in 2030.
 HFC: Negligible Impact on Ozone layer but significant
impact on Global Warming Potential GWP.
 Halocarbons: Used in the Cells of foamed insulation and
fire fighting systems.
 Natural Refrigerants: CO2, Water, Ammonia NH3,
Hydrocarbons HC, Propane and Air.

103.  International Treaty that designed to protect the
ozone layer by phasing out the production of a
number of substances believed to be responsible
for ozone depletion.
 The Ozone Layer is expected to recover in 2050.
 Over 50% of water chillers in existing buildings
still using CFC-11.
 Use Fire suppression systems that use no CFC,
HCFCs or Halons.

104.  Existing CFC based HVAC&R and fire suppression
systems must be replaced or retrofitted to phase out
the use of CFC refrigerants prior to project
completion.
 Existing Chiller System, phase out CFC based
refrigerants within 5 years of project completion.
 If replacement of Chillers is not economically feasible.
If a third party audit determine that payback would be
greater than 10 years for replacement or conversion,
a reduction in annual leakage to 5% or less is
required.

105. MATERIALS
&
RESOURCES

106.  Material Selection
 Waste disposal
 Waste reduction
 Embodied Energy: the amount of energy
required to for extraction, processing,
transporting, installation and eventual
disposal during the entire life cycle of the
product ( Cradle to grave).
 Construction and demolition waste
contributes about 40% of the total solid waste
stream in the US.

107.  Source Reduction: reduce demand for
products.
 Reuse: reusing of existing buildings and or
salvaged materials.
 Recycle.
 Cradle to cradle materials: that are either
reused or recycled at the end of their original
use.

108.  Materials and Resources credit characteristics
used to determine the compliance are
measured by area, weight or cost.
 Provide an easy accessible dedicated area for
the collection and storage of materials for
recycling for the entire building.
 Materials must include: paper, corrugated
cardboard, glass, plastics and metals. This is
prerequisite.

109.  Building reuse: Maintain existing walls, floors and
roof: window assemblies and remediated
hazardous materials are excluded. (55%, 75% and
95% for NC).
 Building reuse: Maintain Interior nonstructural
elements.(50%).
 Materials reuse: for onsite reuse, items must no
longer serve their original function and must be
installed for a different purpose, offsite materials
qualify if they had been previously used(5% NC).

110.  Preconsumer: generally from Industry.
 Postconsumer: consumer waste left at curbside for
recycling programs.
 ISO 14021 defines preconsumer and postconsumer
materials.
 Regional Materials: that have been extracted, harvested, or
recovered and manufactured within 500 miles of the
project site.
 Rapidly renewable materials: typically harvested within a
10 year cycle (Cork, bamboo, natural rubber, wheat,
cotton, straw, linseed (linoleum). (2.5% of material).

111.  FSC certified wood for a minimum 50% of the
wood based materials and products for all
permanently wood building components.
Requires chain of custody CoC proof.

112.  A reduced building size will produce less waste.
 Develop a policy that establishes a target diversion rate for the
general contractor.
 Develop a waste management plan that includes disposal of any
asbestos and PCBs.
 Waste can be collected in one container (Commingled), and sent
to offsite facility to be separated for easier compliance and less
space for containers.
 Waste can be separated onsite and put in marked and protected
containers to be recycled, requires more space and monitoring to
ensure compliance.
 Develop Policy to reduce waste during operations and
maintenance.
 Provide convenient and accessible location to occupants for
collection of recyclables.
 Monitor the effectiveness of recycling programs.

113. INDOOR
ENVIRONMENTAL
QUALITY

114.  Asthma and Sick building Syndrome SBS: illness
attributed to poor air quality.
 Common Organic pollutants are 2 to 5 times
higher inside homes than outside regardless of
the location of home.
 Americans on average spend 90% of their time
indoors.
 Source Control: preventing contaminants from
entering the building.

115.  Improved ventilation.
 Managing contaminants.
 Low VOC material selection.
 Occupant controllability of systems.
 Increased Daylight and views.
 Acoustics (Schools).

116.  Mechanical Ventilation (active).
 Natural Ventilation (passive).
 Mixed mode ventilation (active and passive).

117.  Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS):
◦ No smoking in the building or within 25 feet of
entrances, operable windows and air intakes.
◦ Smoking permitted inside must be confined to
spaces built per ASTM E779-03.
◦ No smoking in or around schools.
 Carbon Dioxide CO2: Installed CO2 monitors
integrated with the ventilation system.
 Particulate Matter.

118.  Size ventilation system to provide adequate
outside air to building occupants.
 ASHRAE 62, Ventilation for acceptable indoor
air quality.
 Install high efficiency filters with high MERV
ratings to reduce smaller particulates during
construction and replace prior to occupancy (
MERV 8 rating).
 Flush out the building before occupancy.
 SMACNA for indoor air quality

119.  Construction activities.
 Moisture.
 CO2.
 Asbestos.
 Radon.
 Material off-gassing from VOCs.
 Second hand smoke.
 Particulates.
 Chemicals.

120.  Regulate interior finish materials within the
building envelope in an effort to promote
materials and products that release fewer and
less harmful chemical compounds.

121.  Temperature and ventilation control for 50%
of the building occupants.
 Provide operable windows for individuals
control.
 Lighting control for 90% of the building
occupants.

122.  Increase day lighting.
◦ Skylights, roof monitors, light tubes, light shelves
to reflect light in the building.
◦ Orientation of the building.
 Increase View.
◦ Provide a direct line of sight to exterior.
◦ Window vision glazing heights to be 2’-6” above
the floor to 7’-6”.
◦ Glazing above 7’-6” is referred to as daylight
glazing.

123.  Effective acoustic design for better student to
teacher communications.
 Reduce background noise level to 40DBA or
less from HVAC systems in classrooms and
other core learning places.

124.  ASHRAE 90.1-2007: energy efficiency.
 ASHRAE 52.2-1999: ventilation air filters MERV.
 ASHRAE 55-2004: Thermal Comfort ( Air and Radiant
temperatures, air speed, humidity.
 ASHRAE 62.1-2007 ventilation rates.
 Carpet and Rug Institute: Green label plus: carpets.
 Green label: carpet cushions.
 FloorScore program identify low VOC flooring.
 SCAQMD Rule 1113, VOC limits for paints and coatings.
 SCAQMD Rule 1168, VOC limits for adhesives, sealants and
sealant primers.
 Green Seal GC-03, VOC limits for anti corrosive and anti rust
paints.
 Green Seal GC-11, VOC limits for commercial flat and non flat
paints.
 Green Seal Standard GC-36, VOC limits for aerosol adhesives.

125. INNOVATION IN DESIGN
&
REGIONAL PRIORITY

126.  Exemplary performance: exceed credit’s available
requirements (not for all credits and not available for
prerequisites).
 Innovative performance: address sustainable topic
not covered in the LEED Rating System (
Comprehensive, quantifiable, and Transferable).
 Pilot Credit Library: attempt one of the credit in that
Library.
 LEED AP involved as principle participant.
 Max. 6 points can be achieved.

127.  Educational Outreach Program.
 Use greenhouse gas budget to demonstrate
carbon neutral design and operations.
 Incorporate high levels of fly ash in concrete
to divert waste materials from landfills.

128.  If the credit threshold percentage
requirements are 10% and 20%, ID point may
awarded if we achieved 30% level.
 Credits with more than Compliance path,
compliance with more than one path is
eligible for Exemplary Performance, if the
benefit is additive.
 Doubling level or percentage of the credit
performance.

129.  Based on Project Zip Code.
 Max 4 points can be achieved.
 Eligible for outside US projects.

130.  Any credit that involves tracking cost will almost always be by the Contractor.
 Prerequisite earn no point.
 The minimum requirement a building must satisfy to obtain LEED Certification of a new
building is to Satisfy all prerequisites and earn 40 LEED credit points.
 Plumbing codes in some jurisdictions do not allow for collected rainwater to be brought inside
the building for use to flush toilets.
 While the Energy Policy Act also deals with energy use, LEED uses it to establish baseline water
use rates for plumbing fixtures.
 ASHRAE published the Advanced Energy Design Guide for Small Office Buildings 2004.
 Appeals cost 500$/ Credit and 800$/Complex Credit.
 Registration and Credits fees are different for non-members and members.
 Fees are based on Square footage.
 Fees are not the same for All Rating Systems.
 Core and Shell, schools, retail and healthcare have the same Fees.
 Excavated materials such as: dirt and trees, hazardous materials such as asbestos and lead
covered debris are excluded from waste management calculations.
 Mechanical, electrical, elevators and windows are excluded from materials reuse calculations.