LEED / Green Building
SUNVENT INDUSTRIES: LEED / Green Building
LEED, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, is an internationally-recognized green building certification system. Developed by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) in March 2000, LEED provides building owners and operators with a framework for identifying and implementing practical and measurable green building design, construction, operations and maintenance solutions.
LEED promotes sustainable building and development practices through a suite of rating systems that recognize projects that implement strategies for better environmental and health performance. The LEED rating systems are developed through an open, consensus-based process led by LEED committees, diverse groups of volunteers representing a cross-section of the building and construction industry. Key elements of the process include a balanced and transparent committee structure, technical advisory groups that ensure scientific consistency and rigor, opportunities for stakeholder comment and review, member ballot of new rating systems, and fair and open appeals. ** (From www.usgbc.org)
Sunvent Industries is committed to implementing practices that limit the impact on our environment.
Most aluminum has a high recycled content. Our primary supplier of extruded aluminum uses an aluminum billet consisting of a recycled content of 45% (32% - Pre-Consumer & 13% - Post Consumer) and our supplier of cast aluminum vents uses aluminum alloys that are produced from 100% recycled materials. This meets the LEED requirement MR Credit 4 for using “materials with recycled content such that the sum of the post-consumer recycled content plus one-half of the pre-consumer content constitutes at least 10% or 20% (based on cost) of the total value of the materials in the project.” Because we use the higher end of the recycled content percentage, our customers can achieve the (2) LEED credit points on this scale.
A sustainable manufacturing process also meets the spirit of LEED by reducing the “environmental impacts related to materials manufacturing and transport.” Our aluminum supplier uses scrubber units that remove harmful volatiles that would otherwise result in airborne emissions, paint line solvents are 100% recycled on-site and recovered for reuse, and anodizing solutions are reprocessed and re-used.
Our strategically positioned manufacturing center can localize sourcing. Sunvent Industries is located in Pelham, NH. This helps meet LEED requirements MR Credit 5 that use 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% or 20%, based on cost, of the total value of the materials on the project. (2) LEED credits can be easily obtained for Sunvent Industries customers, depending on project location. (See Figure 1.)
Figure 1.
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