LEED Certification for Manufacturing and Distribution Facilities
by Jonathan McGaha | April 1, 2013 12:00 am
Meetings with prospective clients often start out with typical questions. They often wonder how much more LEED certification will cost, whether it will add any time to the project schedule, the benefits of LEED certifying their facility and if there is anything that they’d have to do different. The answer most building owners want is that any increase to the project budget will be small, the schedule will not change, the approach will be no different, money will be saved by reducing energy consumption and the community loves a business that respects the environment. Too often this short and simple response is what an owner receives from a consultant. The true answers are far more complicated.
This is especially true with LEED projects involving manufacturing and distribution facilities. I recently had a meeting with a prospective owner who was intrigued by the prospects of LEED certification, and was in the early stages of planning for a new manufacturing facility with a distribution facility. When the typical questions surfaced, it was necessary to change the meeting’s direction. I asked the client if the answers would be the deciding factor for pursuing LEED certification, and the owner responded that they wouldn’t. It was explained that the owners of the corporation made a decision that all new facilities would achieve some level of LEED certification. I was then able to confirm that the owner just wanted to know what would need to be done to complete the project. These early exchanges of information are beneficial in changing the meeting’s tone and objectives.
The most current version of LEED provides some guidance for distribution centers, but the system was established for commercial buildings. Understanding this distinction is key because the strategy used to demonstrate compliance with prerequisites and credits for a manufacturing site will be different than that used in the design and construction of an office building.
LEED has five main categories: Sustainable, Water, Energy, Materials and Environmental Quality. A team needs to satisfy all eight prerequisites and collect enough points to achieve one of four levels of certification. There are unique features of a heavy manufacturing facility or a distribution center that make some aspects of certification easier and others more complicated or impossible. The team effort and possible cost associated with certification will depend on several different conditions within each category.
Sustainable Sites
There are credits within this category that will be difficult to achieve for most manufacturing plants. Typically, these facilities are constructed on larger tracts of land removed from the urban core, making location to mass transit, basic services and development densities more difficult. Facilities located on a green field site may find it difficult to achieve the credit for site selection. Conversely, because the facility is located on a larger tract of land, achieving the open space, stormwater and light pollution reduction credits may be quite easy.
Water Efficiency
The challenge of this category is perception. If a property owner does not require irrigated turf grass, four points are achieved. If locker rooms and restrooms are fitted with low-flow fixtures, there’s another couple of points. In the case where ownership is willing to make a small investment, harvested rainwater can be used for sewage conveyance, capturing another couple of points.
Energy and Atmosphere
There are more points available in this category than any other. Knowledge of the manufacturing process needs to come together, as well as the requirements of LEED if a team is to succeed. LEED requires the building to be modeled. The model creates the facility, drawing a baseline for energy use by certain energy efficiency standards. This baseline is then compared to the design case to document predicted energy savings. LEED instructs that all end-use energy must be accounted for in the model. The process load for a manufacturing plant is typically larger than any other consumption source in the facility. A savvy LEED team will work with the plant engineers to learn about equipment that comes together for the product assembly, and each energy savings measure
(better motor efficiency, lower fan speeds, advanced robotics, etc.) can be captured and added to the facility’s overall savings. In many cases, the efficiencies in upgrading or updating a manufacturing process can show large savings over past manufacturing.
The strategy used for a distribution center is opposite that of a manufacturing plant. LEED instructs that if the process load is not known, then a default value of 25 percent of the total building load should be used in the energy model. Distribution centers typically are large buildings with small process loads, so the team can work with the facilities group to create an equipment inventory, which is used to determine the actual process load. In most cases the process load will be much lower than the 25 percent default value.
Materials and Resources
Manufacturing facilities, like distribution centers, are typically large metal structures with concrete floors. This structure type works well for LEED strategies in terms of regional materials made of high recycled content. The contractor can divert waste from the landfill by recycling waste for even more points.
Indoor Environmental Quality
Instructing the contractor to use only low- or noemitting materials for paint, coatings, caulks and adhesives inside of the building are four easily achievable credits. Designing a ventilation system that meets LEED’s standards requirements can be much more of a challenge. The facility’s ventilation requirements can be much different than those of an office building. However, LEED requires the design to accommodate certain minimum standards regardless of industry standard or local code.
When it comes to LEED certification of heavy manufacturing space or distribution centers, it is not impossible. It just takes a little more effort and a keen understanding of the requirements.
Source URL: https://www.metalarchitecture.com/articles/leed-certification-for-manufacturing-and-distribution-facilities/