Green Buildings
The interest in "green" buildings is increasing. Green buildings are buildings that are environmentally responsible, profitable and healthy places to live and work. The U.S. Green Building Council's Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design standard is becoming the basis for determining a buildings "green" status. More information on the USGBC can be found at www.usgbc.org.

LEED is a voluntary, consensus-based national standard for developing high-performance, sustainable buildings. It has sections to cover all aspects of the building and its construction. The sections of LEED for New Construction are:
  • Sustainable Sites (SS)
  • Water Efficiency (WE)
  • Energy & Atmosphere (EA)
  • Materials & Resources (MR)
  • Indoor Environmental Quality (EQ)
  • Innovation & Design Process (ID)
The HVAC system plays an important role in achieving healthy buildings to work in, but these LEED Credits tend to be underutilized. The sections of LEED that relate to Titus' air distribution products fall primarily under the Energy & Atmosphere (EA) and Indoor Environmental Quality (EQ) sections of LEED. A chart showing the breakdown of the LEED Credits achieved in order of frequency and how often the HVAC specific credits are achieved can be found on the LEED Credits Achieved section of the website.

The Regional Material and Recycled Content parts of the Materials & Resources (MR) section are applicable to all industries. More information on Titus products that are eligible for LEED credit can be found on the LEED and Green Buildings section of the website in the LEED Application Guide.

Titus offers a wide range of products that ship from factories across the country. By selecting a model that meets your performance needs and is within 500 miles from the project site, you can increase the percentage of regionally supplied products to acheive a LEED Regional Material credit. For an overview of Titus products and plant locations Click here.
Related Credits

The following table from the December 2003 issue of Environmental Building News shows the rate at which LEED Credits are being achieved. The Credits with the Titus logo designate HVAC specific credits. (Other credits, such as EA Credit 1, Optimize Energy Performance, are also applicable to HVAC, but are not highlighted as they are not HVAC specific.)

Source: Compiled from USGBC's project "Scorecards" by Rob Bolin, of Syska Hennessy Group, and Environmental Building News. Copyright © 2003 by BuildingGreen, Inc. All rights reserved; reprinted with permission. buildinggreen.com/menus/leedList.cfm .

    The top 10 Credits achieved are:
  • ID Credit 2 - LEED Accredited Professional
  • MR Credit 5.1 - Regional Materials - 20%
  • EQ Credit 4.3 - Low Emitting Materials, Carpet
  • WE Credit 1.1 - Water Efficient Landscaping - 50%
  • ID Credit 1.1 - Innovation in Design - 1st point
  • SS Credit 4.2 - Alternative Transportation, Bicycle Storage
  • EQ Credit 4.1 - Low Emitting Materials, Adhesives & Sealants
  • MR Credit 4.1 - Recycled Content - 5%
  • EQ Credit 4.2 - Low Emitting Materials, Paints
  • SS Credit 1 - Site Selection

Noticeably missing from the top ten Credits achieved are the HVAC and thermal comfort related credits.

Of the HVAC specific credits marked in the chart above, EQ Credit 1, CO2 Monitoring, was achieved in 70% of the projects, EQ Credit 7.1, Thermal Comfort, Comply with ASHRAE 55, was achieved in 65% of the projects, EQ Credit 7.2, Thermal Comfort, Permanent Monitoring System was achieved in 55% of the projects, EQ Credit 2, Increase Ventilation Effectiveness, was only achieved in 30% of the projects, and EQ Credit 6.2, Controllability of Non-Perimeter Systems, was only achieved in 15% of the projects.

This shows that these five HVAC specific credits are underutilized and, if used, could help move the project to the next level of LEED Certification. The LEED Application Guide discusses these and other LEED Credits and provides information on products that can help you achieve LEED points.

LEED Application Guide
Download the latest version of the LEED Application Guide.
LEED Application Guide
The 2014 version of the LEED Application Guide is filled with new information and changes. See what updates have been made today.
LEED Letter
Due to some of the manufacturing processes that Titus uses, Titus does not use recycled steel or aluminum. Titus’ EcoShield liner is approximately 80% post-consumer denim and cotton. LEED states that mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) products as well as labor, overhead, and fees are not to be included in calculations for the Material and Resource Credits, Sourcing of Raw Materials and Material Ingredients (as well as in the previous versions’ Regional Material and Recycled Content Credits).

The reason for excluding MEP products is that typically, MEP products are not recycled or reused, which is the focus of the Material & Resources section of LEED. Including MEP products would increase the total material value of a project while not adding value to the total recycled or reused material content, and, therefore, make it more difficult to achieve the requirements necessary to achieve some of the Material & Resource Credits.

In the current version of LEED some specific products that are part of the MEP systems but are “passive” (meaning not part of the active portions of the system) may be included in credit calculations. This allows for the optional inclusion of piping, pipe insulation, ducts, duct insulation, conduit, plumbing fixtures, faucets, showerheads, and lamp housings.

If included in the calculations, the same total material value must be used throughout the LEED credit calculations, so if these MEP products are included, they must be in all Credit calculations.

Click here - Titus Material Documentation