855773520-LEED-v5-ID-C-Reference-Guide-Launch-Edition-1 - Page 272
Extracted Content
Identifying and Specifying Low-emitting Products
The easiest way to find products with a volatile organic compounds (VOC) emissions evaluation may be to search third-party certification program databases from the qualified third-party certifiers or programs listed on the CDPH website [77] .
Other sources for finding compliant products include online aggregated product databases including Ecomedes [78] , the Sustainable Minds Transparency Catalog [79] , Building Ease [80] , and UL SPOT [81] .
Save certificates for the specified products, ensuring that the specified products and the certificates match. Make note of any certificates expected to expire before the time of purchase. Certification periods that begin after the product’s date of purchase do not demonstrate the compliance of the installed product. Track progress toward credit achievement using the LEED materials calculator.
There are international third-party programs and low-emitting third-party standards that can be used for this credit. See the Low-emitting Materials resource document on USGBC’s website.
Calculating Product Category Achievement
Project teams can decide how many product categories to attempt to earn points. To achieve a point, the project must demonstrate they meet or exceed the threshold for each product category. This can be based on cost, surface area, volume, or number of units, depending upon the measurement methods available for each product category. Project teams can choose different measurement types to measure progress toward achievement, as long as the measurement method is consistent in each product category. For example, a project could use “surface area” to demonstrate achievement of the Flooring category, “number of units” for the Furniture category, and “volume” for the Adhesives and Sealants category.
Project teams are advised to set project-achievable category goals and research, specify, and track low- or non-emitting products in those categories according to the low-emitting criteria appropriate for the products. A targeted approach focusing on specific products, or product categories, is likely to be more manageable and successful than amassing documentation for all products in every category and determining attempted categories post-construction.
77 “Home page”, California Department of Public Health, accessed March 31, 2025, https://www.cdph.ca.gov/. 78 “Home page”, Ecomedes, accessed March 31, 2025, https://www.ecomedes.com/. 79 “Sustainable Minds Transparency Catalog”, Sustainable Minds, accessed March 31, 2025, https://transparencycatalog.com/ 80 “Home page”, accessed March 31, 2025, Building Ease, https://builtworlds.com/companies/building-ease/ 81 “Home page”, UL Spot, accessed March 31, 2025, https://spot.ul.com/.
U.S. Green Building Council LEED v5 Reference Guide for Interior Design and Construction, April 2025 Launch Edition 261