Every aspect of a construction site has to be carefully considered to ensure that it complies with the strict green building requirements of the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). This is no less true of the floor, which can account for a significant quantity of the development’s materials, workload, and if not carefully managed, its waste.
Advances in sustainable flooring technology mean that developers can specify materials that help the project attain credits for the USGBC’s Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) certification program. That’s why a flooring choice is even more relevant to achieving green accreditation than ever before. Case in point: the latest version of LEED (LEED v4) has an increased focus on indoor environmental quality and the impact that several categories of materials, including flooring, have on it. This in turn affects the number of points that can be accrued via the specified floor, as systems that are detrimental to the building’s interior and inhabitants will make it harder to achieve LEED certification.