Sustainability is important to us here at Envirotech, and helping our clients who are interested in creating a sustainable office environment is important to us too.
Buildings generate up to 35 per cent of all greenhouse gases, 35 per cent of landfill waste comes from construction and demolition activities, and 80 per cent of all water is consumed in and around buildings. It’s clear that making buildings greener can have a significant impact on larger environmental goals. [1]
Sustainability means giving our clients quality, and options to support their green initiatives. For companies looking to become LEED certified, choosing to purchase recycled office furniture is an easy, and often inexpensive way for project teams to earn LEED points to help them achieve their green building certification.
Related Article – Envirotech – Our Story
LEED: Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. A voluntary Green Building Rating System administered by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) and Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC) to recognize buildings for environmental leadership.
LEED-CI: LEED for Commercial Interiors addresses the specifics of tenant spaces primarily in office, retail and institutional buildings.
When choosing recycled office furniture, including pre-owned, refurbished, and remanufactured furniture, it cuts down on the environmental impact by re-using office furniture that would have otherwise gone to the landfill, and reducing the amount of natural resources that would have been used to create new furniture.
Related Article – What is Recycled Office Furniture?
“Salvaged and reused furniture more than one year old at the time of use is considered compliant, provided it meets the requirements for any site-applied paints, coatings, adhesives, and sealants.” [2]
Guidelines for office furniture LEED Credits, and Envirotech contributions
Intent of Credit | Resource Reuse – 1 CREDIT
Reuse building products and materials in order to reduce demand for virgin materials and reduce waste, thereby reducing impact associated with the extraction and procession of of virgin resources.
Envirotech Contribution
Use salvaged, refurbished or used furniture ( or furnishings ) for 30% of the total budget with Envirotech’s
- Pre-owned Case Goods
- As-Is Workstations
- Used Seating and Filing
Intent of Credit | Refurbished Content – 1 CREDIT
Increase demand for building products that incorporate recycled content, therefore reducing impacts from extraction and processing of virgin materials.
Envirotech Contribution
Use materials, including furniture with recycled content with Envirotech’s
- Remanufactured or refurbished workstations
- Remanufactured or refurbished seating
- Refurbished filing
Intent of Credit | Low-Emitting Materials – 1 CREDIT
Reduce the quantity of indoor air contaminants that are odorous, potentially irritating and/or harmful to the comfort and well-being of installer and occupants
Envirotech Contribution
All recycled furniture ( remanufactured, refurbished, or as-is) must be “Greenguard” indoor Air Quality Certified. Envirotech sells a range of products by manufacturers that are “Greenguard” certified [3]; including, but not limited to:
Nightingale / Allseating / Descor / Global Seating / Knoll / Lacasse / Herman Miller / Haworth / Humanscale / Keihauer / Krug
U.S. LEED – News
In Spring 2014, it was announced that, under the leadership of the 5 major standard developers in the U.S., ASHRAE 189.1, the International Green Construction Code (IgCC), and the LEED rating systems are to be merged into one common standard. By simplifying the regulation process and incentive programs, their hope is it will help increase the adoption rate of sustainability best practices by designers, builders, developers and other related industry groups. Their aim is to have this agreement launched by 2017. Read More..
References
[1] Going Green with LEED – www.cagbc.org
[2] LEED v4 Low-emitting materials section – www.usgbc.org
[3] Greenguard Certified Manufacturers : productguide.ulenvironment.com