LEED (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) Certification was created by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) in order to provide the building and construction industry with a verifiable system to measure and define eco-friendly and green buildings. LEED certification can be achieved through gaining a specified number of points. The accumulation of these points can lead to anyone one of the following LEED certifications:
LEED Platinum - 80 points & over
LEED Gold - 60-79 points
LEED Silver - 50-59 points
LEED Certified - 40-49 points
Getting a building or remodel project to be LEED certified can be quite a task. The USGBC has a certain set of policies and procedures that must be strictly adhered to or a building cannot acquire LEED Certification. There are quite a number of different ways that a project can get LEED certified. One specific credit that many projects can benefit from is the Materials Resource Credit 7 (MRc7). The Materials Resource Credit 7 (MRc7) is the credit that specifically deals with eco-friendly wood. The Forest Stewardship Council offers FSC certified wood and has been specifically chosen as the wood of choice by the USGBC and LEED. Because the Forest Stewardship Council has stringent guidelines as to how certain woods are to be managed and cultivated, FSC certified products have become a key component for inclusion in LEED projects. The goal of both the FSC and the MRc7 credit is to encourage and promote environmentally responsible forestry practices and management. In order to qualify for the LEED MRc7 credit, your green building must use a percentage of FSC certified wood, and the percentages vary depending on your type of build. However, the minimum amount of FSC wood based materials that are required in order to be qualified is 50%. To get an exemplary performance Innovation in Design credit, the project must contain at least 95% FSC certified wood.Clearly, when every point counts, the use of FSC certified wood can be a great help. There are quite a number of wonderful woods to choose from including:
FSC Certified Ipe
FSC Certified Garapa
FSC Certified Tigerwood
FSC Certified Cumaru
This leads to the question, where can you find wood that has been certified by the FSC? When checking their website, make sure to look for Chain of Custody certified vendors who are familiar with the LEED point system.
One such company is Advantage Trim & Lumber Company as well as Ipe Depot. They are an international direct importer of eco-friendly hardwoods and have a full selection of quality FSC Certified wood ready to ship to anywhere in the United States, or the world.
Disclaimer: All information on this site is provided for informational purposes only! By no means is any
information presented herein intended to substitute for the advice provided to you by any health care or other professional
or organization.
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