products

The United States Green Building Council (USGBC) has a recognized system for certifying green buildings called LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design).  

The LEED system certifies a wide variety of buildings and the list is growing.  New England Lab has been involved in several LEED certified project in New England and the Mid Atlantic states. The system consists of credits in a variety of environmental areas.  Credits are earned by achieving assorted points within those credits.  The points are for the entire building, not just the laboratory.  New England Lab can provide a variety of products that can contribute to the earning of points.  For example FSC® (FSC License code FSC-C105535) certified wood may be used upon request in our cabinets and may be included as a contributor to the FSC® credit for certified wood.  It would be one part of an equation that included, doors, millwork, running trim, etc.  In other words, our products are not stand alone providers of LEED points.  We are one part of a larger project wide system.

There are a wide variety of ways New England Lab products can contribute to a project’s LEED certification.  Following are the most common.

 ENERGY & ATMOSPHERE (EA)

EA 1 CREDIT: “EA” Stands for Energy & Atmosphere and the intent is to minimize the environmental impact relating to the generation of energy.  EA 1 is intended to see how much energy can be saved in comparison to a baseline building.  The more energy that is saved, the more points that are achieved.

New England Lab CONTRIBUTIONS:

Our primary contribution to the achievement of this credit is through our fume hood offering.  Exhausting conditioned air through fume hoods is quite expensive.  The fewer CFM of conditioned air that travels through our hoods, the more we contribute to decreased energy consumption.   Specific contributions can include:

• Sash selection
• Operating height of 18” on vertical sashes
• Horizontal sashes
• Combination sashes
• Hood type
• VAV
• Mott’s automatic sash closer can contribute to savings
• CAV
• SafeGuard™
• RFV2™ high efficiency fume hood

MATERIALS & RESOURCES (MR):

Note: Division 12 furniture only counts if casework is included consistently across MR Credits 3-7

MR 4 CREDIT (Recycled Content): The intent is to reduce the environmental impact resulting from extraction and processing of virgin materials by incorporating recycled content.

• One point is awarded for 10% recycled content (post-consumer + ½ pre-consumer). 
• An additional point is awarded for 20% recycled content (post-consumer + ½ pre-consumer).

Essentially ½ of the recycled content must be recycled consumer goods (ex. car parts).  The remainder can come from the waste stream of various manufacturing processes (ex. Steel waste from our manfuacturing partners plant).

The credit is calculated is based on the cost of the total value of the materials in the project.  That might include: total steel material cost and recycled content percentages.

New England Lab's CONTRIBUTIONS:

• STEEL:
  • Cold rolled painted steel: Recycled content is 32.7% (25.5% is post-consumer and 6.8% is pre-consumer).
  • Source: Steel Recycling Institute
  • Stainless steel: Recycled content is at least 60% (25% is post-consumer and 35% is pre-consumer).
  • Source: Stainless Steel Institute of North America
   
• WOOD: Particleboard cores can be made from panels that are up to 100% pre-consumer or 100% post-consumer recycled content. Mott can then manufacture products that offer a mix of these two materials to achieve MR 4credits.  Note: panels with post-consumer content cannot receive the certified wood credit MR 7.

MR 5 CREDIT (Regional Materials): The intent is to increase demand for building materials and products that are extracted, processed, and manufactured within 500 a mile radius of the project site.  This is based on the cost of the product.  If only a portion of the product meets the regional requirements, then only that portion of the product (by weight) shall contribute to the regional value.

• One point is awarded for products where 10% is  Extracted, Processed & Manufactured regionally
• An additional point is awarded for products where 20%  is Extracted, Processed & Manufactured regionally

New England Lab's CONTRIBUTIONS:

STEEL: The project has to be within a 500 mile radius of our Manufacturing partner Mott Manufacturing located in Brantford, Ontario and the steel must also come from within the same radius.  Since it’s impossible to know where the ore came from that goes into a sheet of steel, the only allowed sources for steel are recycling plants also within a 500 mile radius of Mott and the project.  There are not a lot of these plants.  This is a challenging and expensive requirement for project within 500 miles.  It’s impossible for projects beyond 500 miles.  All of our competitors face the same challenges.  Some may not be able to comply at all.

WOOD: The 500 mile radius is calculated from the specific wood manufactuing partner chosen for the project.  We have manufactuing and sourcing capabilities in Woburn, MA, Maxwelton, WV and Toronto, Canada. If your project is within 500 miles of both the plant and the material supplier, this credit may be achievable.   

MR 6 CREDIT (Rapidly Renewable Materials):  The intent is to reduce the depletion of raw materials and long-cycle renewable materials by replacing them with rapidly renewable materials.  Rapidly renewable materials have a harvest life cycle of 10 years or less for 2.5% of the total value of all building materials and products used in the project based on cost.

New England Lab's CONTRIBUTIONS:

STEEL: Rapidly renewable door/drawer fronts on steel cabinets.  See information on wood below.

WOOD: This is a materials sourcing issue.  Materials available may include:

• Bamboo with a staved core:  This product is 100% bamboo and can be used in cabinet bodies, door/drawers and/or shelving.  Warping is a potential problem.
• Bamboo veneer on standard cores: This would typically be less than 3% of cabinet cost but still a contributor.
• Agriboard (wheat, straw, etc.): We are not satisfied with the quality or quantity of these materials at this time.  Please consult with the factory if this is be required on a project.

INDOOR ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY (EQ)

EQ 4.1 CREDIT (Low-Emitting Materials – Adhesives & Sealants): The intent is to reduce the quantity of indoor air contaminants that negatively affect the health and well being of installers and occupants.

New England Lab’s CONTRIBUTIONS:

None.  This has to do with adhesives & sealants used on site which are a dealer/installer responsibility.  The dealer/installer should check with the GC/CM to make sure that the adhesives used don’t exceed the VOC limits.  Using the wrong sealant or adhesive could result in the loss of this credit.

EQ 4.2 CREDIT (Low-Emitting Materials – Paints & Coatings): The intent is to reduce the quantity of indoor air contaminants that negatively affect the health and well being of installer and occupants.

New England Lab's CONTRIBUTIONS:

None.  This has to do with paints and coatings used on site which are a dealer/installer responsibility.  The dealer/installer should check with the GC/CM to make sure that the paints and coatings used on site don’t exceed the VOC limits.  Using the wrong sealant or adhesive could result in the loss of this credit.

EQ 4.4 CREDIT (Low-Emitting Materials – Composite Wood & Agrifiber Products): The intent is to reduce the quantity of indoor air contaminants that negatively affect the health and well being of installers and occupants.  Specifically, this calls for all composite wood and/or Agrifiber products to be free of added urea-formaldehyde (NAUF).  Wood naturally contains some urea-formaldehyde, but none of the glues or binders in our products can contain any added urea-formaldehyde.

New England Lab's CONTRIBUTIONS:

STEEL: NAUF Wood doors or drawer fronts on steel cabinets

WOOD: We can and will supply NAUF panel products when ordered