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How to Use GreenScreen® for LEED v4

Download the Entire "How to" Guide

Also see: GreenScreen Guidance Version 1.3 and LEED v4

The How-To guide provides step-by-step instructions to help industry professionals create a Manufacturer’s Inventory, obtain and use the GreenScreen® List Translator and/or Benchmark scores, and also provides a pathway to obtain a certification mark to help building industry professionals easily recognize products that can be used to earn these credits.

Since the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) released LEED v4 in 2013, there has been a steep learning curve for both manufacturers and LEED Practitioners who are scrambling to keep current with the rating system and its approach to inherently safer materials through the new Material Ingredient Disclosure and Optimization credits. Both of these credits lean heavily on GreenScreen® and GreenScreen List Translator.

Here’s how it works:

The guidance contains highly detailed instruction and is set up as a 4-step process:

Step 1: Product Inventory — Identify a comprehensive list of chemicals in products. The guidance lists reporting thresholds for both LEED v4 credit options, as well as what to do about proprietary product information.

Step 2: Chemical Hazard Assessment — Use GreenScreen® to determine the inherent hazards of those chemicals. GreenScreen has the added advantage of enabling manufacturers to identify and report the hazards of both proprietary and non-proprietary chemical ingredients. The guidance explains how to use GreenScreen List Translator scores and GreenScreen BenchmarkTM scores to meet LEED v4 Option 1: Material Ingredient Reporting (1 point), and Option 2: Optimization (1 point).

Step 3: Reporting — Next, the “How-To” guide offers samples for how to fulfill LEED v4 documentation submission requirements, which are categorized by each credit option for ingredient reporting and optimization.        

Step 4: LEED-Compliant Certification — Lastly, the “How to” guide provides guidance on how to obtain certification marks from Green Circle Certified or Clean Production Action to enable easy identification of compliance to the LEED standard.

Description of Credits

Under the U.S. Green Building Council®’s (USGBC’s) LEED v4 standard manufacturers can acquire two credits – one through disclosure and the other through the elimination of highly hazardous chemical ingredients -- using GreenScreen to evaluate and communicate hazards.

To earn the disclosure credit, companies must identify all ingredients in products present at or above certain thresholds. Chemical identity for proprietary ingredients can be redacted if a GreenScreen List Translator score or GreenScreen Benchmark is reported, along with chemical hazards, ingredient role and amount. Manufacturers can qualify for a second LEED credit if their products do not contain chemicals which have a List Translator score of LT-1 or a Benchmark-1 score under GreenScreen.

Material inventories for the disclosure credit can take several forms.  One common pathway is through a Health Product Declaration®. The Health Product Declaration (HPD) is a standard format for communicating product chemical ingredients created and maintained by the Health Product Declaration Collaborative (HPDC). Through the use of HPDC’s HPD Builder tool, a manufacturer can construct an HPD where GreenScreen List Translator scores and GreenScreen Benchmarks from public assessments are automatically provided. 

Links to resources:

How to Use GreenScreen for LEED v4 Guidance

How to Use GreenScreen for LEED v4 FAQ

Webinar: How to Use GreenScreen for LEED v4

GreenScreen v1.3 and LEED v4 FAQ

USGBC LEED v4 Standard

For New Construction, read the credit language here.

For Commercial Interiors, read the credit language here.

Also see: USGBC adds GreenScreen credit, press release.