Plumbing for Efficiency | Mechanical Business - Sloan Valve Company

■LEED
Plumbing for
efficiency
By Jason Boyd
Quick, a special prize to anyone who
can tell me what LEED stands for?
Most people know what it stands
for in theory, but what about the actual
acronym? Leadership in Energy and
Environmental Design, notice that there is
no “s” on the end of LEED, Leeds is a city in
the U.K.! Ok, now that we know about the
acronym, how does this rating system
impact water efficiency in the world of the
commercial plumbing contractor? First we
need to understand what LEED is and
where it comes from.
There are many different LEED rating
systems, such as core and shell, existing
buildings, commercial interiors, and so forth.
It is important that contractors are aware of
the specific category that their project is
being rated on. Every LEED project will
have a designated LEED co-ordinator who
will advise the correct rating system and
category requirements. The LEED Canada
New Construction 2009 rating system was
released last June, and is the one we will
focus on here.
The water efficiency section can contribute
up to 10 points towards the overall LEED
certification. To put this in perspective, the
total rating system consists of 100 base
points, with six points available for
innovative design and four regional priority
points. The project must achieve at least 40
points to become certified, with a sliding
scale through silver, gold levels, and finally
platinum at over 80 points.
LEED places a higher priority on things like
“energy and atmosphere” (35 possible points)
and “indoor environmental quality” (15
points) meaning that HVAC contractors have
a pivotal role in the process. That being said,
continued on page 50
WHAT IS LEED?
LEED is a third party certification
program, administered in Canada by the
Canada Green Building Council. The
purpose of LEED is to benchmark, via an
internationally accepted rating system,
the design, construction and operation
of high performance buildings. LEED
promotes a whole building approach to
sustainability by focusing on five key
areas:
• Sustainable site
development
• Water efficiency
• Energy efficiency
• Materials selection
• Indoor environmental
quality
THE GREAT OUTDOORS
Credit 1 outlines water efficient landscaping, which can contribute up to
four points. This section focuses on high efficiency irrigation products
and the use of appropriate plant material in the overall landscape
design of a building.
Recycled rainwater
and the use of grey
water systems are
common practices
to improve the
overall efficiency
of any landscape
design system.
WEB STOP
A great resource is the
Canada Green Building
Council and its website,
www.cagbc.org.
FINDING MORE POINTS
Other than the Water Efficiency section, how else
can plumbing design contribute to LEED? The
LEED rating system contains a section for
“Innovation in Design” which can contribute up to
five points to the overall project count. Points can
be achieved by significantly exceeding the
performance outlined in any other LEED category.
Additionally, points can be achieved for identifying
an area of building efficiency not currently outlined
in the LEED rating system. This is an area where
savvy plumbing contractors can shine and bring
true value to any LEED project.
CERTIFYING THE
BUILDING
Simple things like product selection can
make a major impact on the overall
rating process and the “water footprint”
any commercial building makes. It is
important to remember that products
and people cannot be LEED certified;
only buildings can.
People can be LEED
accredited and
products can help
to achieve points as
part of the
certification
process.
48
S u s t a i n S u p p l e m e n t 0 6 . 1 1

Jason Boyd is the LEED-accredited marketing manager for Dobbins Sales.
He can be reached at jboyd@dobbinsales.com.
REDUCING WATER USE
The water use reduction prerequisite of LEED is based on a
simple formula showing approximate usage in a building on
an annual basis, calculated against a standard baseline
performance. The baseline for commercial
toilets is 6 litres per flush; commercial urinals
is 3.8 litres per flush; private lavatory
applications (hotel/motel or hospital
patient rooms) is 8.3 litres per minute;
other commercial lavatory faucets is 1.9
litres per minute; 0.95 litres per cycle for
metering faucets; 9.5 litres per minute for
commercial showerheads; and, finally, a flow
rate equal to or less than 6.0 litres per minute
for food service pre-rinse appliances.
Things like commercial clothes or dish washers are
excluded from the water efficiency calculations.
By installing High Efficiency Toilets (HETs) and High
Efficiency Urinals (HEUs) it becomes very easy to achieve
the required percentage of water savings and gain the
maximum number of points available in credit 3, (see
page 50) water use reduction. Most manufacturers now
offer things like 4.8 litre per flush commercial toilets, dual
flush commercial toilet packages and HEUs that can
deliver as little as 0.47 litres per flush. Another option to
help achieve water use reduction points are water-free
urinals, which have become more common over the past
several years.
Low-flow showerheads, faucet aerators, metering faucets
and low consumption pre-rinse units all factor into the
calculations, and can contribute to the overall water
savings in any building. This is sometimes where people
can confuse the fact that all of these high efficiency
products are not LEED certified but merely assist in
lowering overall potable water usage.

continued from page 48
when budgets and the green design
process collide, every possible point is
critical – meaning water efficiency is
never overlooked, and can often be
easier and less costly to achieve.
Here is how the water efficiency
section is broken down:
PREREQUISITE 1 – water use
reduction of 20% vs. Baseline
CREDIT 1 – water efficient
landscaping: Up to 4 points
CREDIT 2 - innovative wastewater
technologies: Up to 2 points
WATER INNOVATION
Grey water use leads into Credit 2, innovative waste water technologies
for up to two points. To achieve these points the building design must
reduce potable water use for building sewage conveyance by 50 per cent
through the use of water-conserving fixtures (e.g., water closets, urinals)
or non-potable water (e.g., captured rainwater, recycled greywater, and
on-site or municipally treated wastewater).
A second option would be to treat 50 per cent of wastewater on-site to
tertiary standards. Treated water must be infiltrated or used on-site.
In the realm of readily available and promoted commercial products,
this area lags behind the use of HETs and HEUs to achieve water use
reduction points in Credit 3. It is a rapidly growing area though and as
more and more greywater systems become approved for sale in the
Canadian market we will see an increase in execution on this credit area.
CREDIT 3 – water use reduction:
Up to 4 points
All of the requirements outlined in the
water efficiency section of the LEED rating
system really should come down to sensible
plumbing practices with an eye to
preserving this valuable resource.
And water preservation really should be a
core value for any build, whether it is a
LEED project or not. There is no more
work or cost associated with installing a 6.0
litre per flush fixture and flush valve versus
a 4.8 lpf version. Same goes for a 3.8 lpf
urinal versus the 0.47 version. All it takes is
a little bit of awareness about the products
that are available and a desire to preserve
water for the future.