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Many products offered by Wood Floor Resource Group qualify for environmental credits or points within the nation’s leading National and State green building programs.
National Green Building Programs
LEED – Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design
The LEED Green Building Rating System® is a voluntary, consensus-based
national standard for developing high-performance, sustainable
buildings.
There are several LEED rating systems: LEED-NC (New Construction),
LEED-EB (Existing Buildings),
LEED-CI (Commercial Interiors), and
LEED Home (Residential Construction).
The following LEED-NC credits are relevant to products offered by Wood Floor Resource Group (WFRG is a USGBC member):
MRc4 - Recycled Content
MRc6- Rapidly Renewable Materials
MRc7- Certified Wood
EQc4.4 - Low-Emitting
Materials/Composite Wood and Agrifiber Products
Additional Resources:
US Green Building Website: www.usgbc.org
USGBC LEED Reference Guides
WFRG products that contribute toward LEED credits
Green Globes - Environmental Assessments for Buildings
Green Globes is an online building and management tool that lets designers, property owners and managers assess the environmental impacts of building practices. Using a confidential questionnaire, it generates an audit report that helps to design buildings that will be energy and resource efficient, will achieve operational savings and be healthier to work or live in.
The following Green Globes points are relevant to products offered by Wood Floor Resource Group.
E.1 – Materials with low environmental impact
E.2 – Minimize consumption and depletion of materials resources
Additional Resources:
Green Globes Website: www.greenglobes.com
More information on Green Globes points
Green Building Initiative – Bringing Green to the Main Stream
The mission of the Green Building Initiative™ is to accelerate the adoption of building practices that result in energy-efficient, healthier and environmentally sustainable buildings by promoting credible and practical green building approaches for residential and commercial construction.
GBI has been working with local homebuilder associations across the country to develop locally-relevant green building programs. It provides guidelines for building green while also honoring Green Globes as its primary standard.
Additional Resources:
Green Building Initiative
Website: www.thegbi.org
BEES - Building for Environmental and Economic Sustainability
BEES measures the environmental performance of building products by using the life-cycle assessment approach specified in the ISO 14040 series of standards. All stages in the life of a product are analyzed: raw material acquisition, manufacture, transportation, installation, use, and waste management. BEES software brings to your fingertips a powerful technique for selecting cost-effective, environmentally-preferable building products. Aimed at architects, builders, and product manufacturers, this tool is based on consensus standards and designed to be practical, flexible, and transparent.
Additional Resources:
BEES Website: http://www.bfrl.nist.gov/oae/software/bees.html
State Programs
There are many state-level Green Building Programs being developed throughout the country. Some of the most established are listed below.
Build It Green, California
Build It Green is a professional non-profit membership organization whose mission is to promote healthy, energy and resource-efficient buildings in California. Supported by a solid foundation of outreach and education, Build It Green connects consumers and building professionals with the tools and technical expertise they need to build quality green buildings. Build It Green offers concise Green Building Guidelines as well as utilizing Green Points, a rating system for assessing environmentally friendly homes.
The following Green Points are relevant to products offered by Wood Floor Resource Group:
Residential construction - Material Resource Efficiency, Flooring:
- FSC-Certified or Reclaimed Wood
- Rapidly Renewable Flooring Materials
- Recycled/Salvage Content
Commercial construction – Build It Green follows the Guidelines and Rating Systems based on LEED standards.
Additonal Resources:
Build it Green
Website: www.builditgreen.org
More information on Build It Green Points .
Built Green, Colorado
Introduced in 1995, Built Green Colorado is a voluntary program whose purpose is to encourage homebuilders to use technologies, products and practices that will provide greater energy efficiency and healthier indoor air, reduce pollution and preserve natural resources.
The following Built Green points are relevant to products offered by Wood Floor Resource Group.
Material Resource Efficiency – Flooring:
- Feature 166 - Reused/recovered or re-milled sources
- Feature 168 - Third-party certified sustainably harvested sources
- Feature 169 - Bamboo or cork flooring in place of hardwood
Additonal Resources:
Built Green, Colorado
Website: www.BuiltGreen.org
Built Green, Washington
Built Green Washington is a cooperative of Washington’s regional green home building programs. Built Green helps home builders and home buyers get the information needed to build and buy green. Most Built Green programs in Washington use a checklist that offers builders a menu of green building strategies with point values attributed to them.
Additonal Resources:
Built Green, Washington
Website: www.BuiltGreenWashington.org
Earth Advantage
Over the past decade, Earth Advantage has transformed itself from a
utility-based conservation program to a free standing
non-profit that administers Oregon's premiere residential green building
program. Earth Advantage works with builders and developers
to bring energy efficient, sustainable, and healthy homes to
the market.
Wood flooring products offered by Wood Floor Resource
Group can contribute to the following point in the Earth
Advantage Points Worksheet:
- 4.4 Floor Framing and Insulation
- 4.4.4 FSC Certified Wood: Materials for floor
assembly
Additonal Resources:
Earth Advantage Website:
www.EarthAdvantage.org
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