LEED Green Associate Emphasizes Life-Cycle Approach for Renovation with Recycled Materials in USGBC

The LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification system is undergoing a significant transformation, with a focus on a life-cycle oriented approach. This new approach is being demonstrated through the renovation of an existing building, using recycled and salvaged materials.

This life-cycle approach is crucial as it considers the environmental impacts across the entire building lifecycle, reducing new resource consumption and waste. By reusing materials in a closed-loop fashion, the building's life-cycle is extended, and the need for new resource extraction and manufacturing is minimised.

The LEED Green Associate Candidate Handbook emphasises this point, stating that one of the intents of the Materials and Resources category is to "promote life-cycle assessment as a means of evaluating environmental impacts". This approach aligns with the definition of a life-cycle approach, which considers the environmental impacts of a product or project from cradle to grave, including extraction of raw materials, construction, operation, and disposal or reuse.

Demolishing an existing building, even to construct an energy-efficient one, creates waste and squanders embodied energy. On the other hand, renovating an existing building takes advantage of the embodied energy and materials already invested in its original construction, avoiding the waste and environmental costs of demolition and new construction.

Moreover, renovating an existing building with recycled and salvaged materials best exemplifies a life-cycle approach as promoted by the LEED green building rating system. This method conserves resources and reduces waste across the building's life-cycle, thereby reducing the environmental impacts associated with new construction, such as land use change, resource depletion, energy consumption, waste generation, and greenhouse gas emissions.

Interestingly, locating in a dense, mixed-use, transit-oriented district is desirable from a site selection perspective but doesn't necessarily employ life-cycle thinking in design and development. For instance, using advanced envelope technology can improve operational energy efficiency but doesn't address the embodied impacts of materials from a life-cycle perspective.

In conclusion, the renovation of an existing building using recycled and salvaged materials is an excellent example of a life-cycle approach to development or design. This approach not only promotes sustainability but also sets a precedent for future green building projects, encouraging the conservation of resources and reduction of waste throughout the building's life-cycle.