The United States Green Building Council (USGBC) is looking to replace Materials & Resources Credit 7: Certified Wood in its LEED rating system to require the use of FSC-100% products, a move that could affect how wood flooring is sourced in new building projects. (In 2010, the Forest Stewardship Council updated the "FSC-Pure" label to "FSC-100%.")
The change comes with its latest draft LEED 2012, the next-generation rating system of LEED guidelines. Currently, LEED allows for any FSC-certified product, including FSC-Mixed material, to satisfy that credit. On Sept. 1, USGBC updated its LEED Pilot Credit Library with Pilot Credit 53: Responsible Sourcing of Raw Materials, which is intended to replace the current MR Credit 7: Certified Wood when the draft LEED 2012 is finalized.
In the interim, while LEED 2012 is being deliberated and public comment sought, builders can still earn points for MR Credit 7: Certified Wood, including FSC-Mixed, and they can also earn points for PC 53: Responsible Sourcing of Raw Materials.
In an Aug. 8 letter, environmental consultant Jason Grant said he thinks the USGBC is mistaken to raise the bar on MR Credit 7: Certified Wood.
"Apparently, USGBC does not know that the vast majority of FSC-certified products now available are FSC-Mixed," he wrote, "and that a requirement for FSC-100% has the practical effect of all but eliminating" FSC-certified products from qualifying for the credit. Instead, Grant favors a credit that weighs FSC-100% products more heavily than FSC-Mixed products.
Also included in the draft LEED 2012 is Pilot Credit 43: Certified Products, which was introduced in June. That pilot credit is controversial for awarding LEED credits for certified wood products other than FSC.
