Contribution to Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED), The LEED program, sponsored by the United States Green Building Council (UGBC), is the primary environmentally focused building certification in the United States. In its Building Design and Construction version, buildings may qualify for various levels of LEED certification based on the total number of points achieved in various categories.

There are two versions of LEED being utilized today, version 4 and version 3. Panel systems utilizing ALUCOBOND® PLUS may contribute toward LEED certification under the following Credit categories:

Download PDF version of Let’s Talk Tech- LEED Certification

Version 4
Indoor Environmental Quality:
ALUCOBOND PLUS panels are coil-coated in a factory that captures and destroys Volatile organic compounds (VOC’s). This process is accomplished using a regenerative thermal oxidizer in our facility’s paint line. By removing VOC’s in the factory, there is no need for field coating and accompanying VOC’s.

Building Product Disclosure:
ALUCOBOND PLUS panels and manufacturing processes have been evaluated in an environmental product declaration. The industry-wide product disclosure was performed by the Metal Construction Association and has been Certified by UL Environment. It can be found on our website here.”

Version 3
Materials and Resources: MR Credit 4: Recycled Content:
This credit requires the use of materials with recycled content such that the sum of post-consumer recycled content plus one-half of the pre-consumer content constitutes at least 10% (based on cost) of the total value of the materials in the project. The contribution of ALUCOBOND® PLUS toward the recycled content of a finished ACM panel assembly is outlined in the following table:

Material	Thickness (mm)	Weight (lb/ft2)	Recycled % Post Consumer	Recycled % Pre-Consumer	LEED Contribution (1.0 x Post + 0.5 x Pre)
ALUCOBOND PLUS	4	1.58	21%	9%	26%
ALUCOBOND AXCENT	1	0.55	9%	41%	29%

Recycled content is defined in accordance with the International Organization of Standards document ISO 14021—Environmental labels and declarations—Self-declared environmental claims (Type II environmental labeling).

Materials and Resources: MR Credit 5: Regional Materials:
This credit requires the use of building materials or products that have been extracted, harvested or recovered, as well as manufactured, within 500 miles of the project site for a minimum of 10% (based on cost) of the total materials value. ALUCOBOND® PLUS materials cannot contribute points toward LEED certification based on regional materials. However, other portions of the final ALUCOBOND® PLUS Panel Assembly may be able to contribute towards the Regional Materials credit.

Innovation in Design: ID Credit 1:
The intent of this credit is to provide design teams and projects the opportunity to achieve exceptional performance above the requirements set by the LEED Green Building Rating System and/or innovative performance in Green Building categories not specifically addressed by the LEED Green building Rating System. Points awarded for the Innovation in Design Credit depend on the creativity of the Architect and acceptance of the idea from the LEED organization.

Summary
The LEED program has gained much recognition over the past several years and is now the premier sustainability design tool in the building industry. LEED focuses on constructing buildings that have minimal impact on the environment during construction, occupation and reclamation. LEED recognizes that utilizing recycled materials is an important part of minimizing environmental impact. This recognition is the driving force for using ALUCOBOND® Plus material. The relatively high percentage of recycled aluminum ensures that ALUCOBOND® PLUS can provide a significant contribution to earning LEED points. A list of all Federal, State, and Municipal LEED users is available upon request from the Technical Services Department.

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