Green Building

Super Stud LEED^® Information and Requirements

Super Stud's framing products are manufactured from cold-formed steel supplied by a variety of integrated steel producers. Steel is the most recycled material on earth, and our framing products can contribute significantly to LEED® certification requirements for a project. The following information is taken directly from the American Iron & Steel Institute’s [AISI] website and represents the method by which LEED® credits can be calculated. Our technical support staff is always available to assist with any aspect of this process. The following is reprinted by permission of the AISI. More complete information regarding steel’s contribution to LEED® certification can be found at http://www.recycle-steel.org/PDFs/leed/LEEDNov09.pdf.

The U.S. Green Building Council Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED®) Green Building Rating System aims to improve occupant well-being, environmental performance and economic returns of buildings using established and innovative practices, standards, and technologies.

Materials & Resources Credit 4: Recycled Content intends to increase demand for building products that incorporate recycled content materials, therefore reducing impacts resulting from extraction and processing of new virgin materials. As discussed and demonstrated below, North American steel building products contribute positively toward points under Credits 4.1 and 4.2. The following is required by LEED-NC Versions 2.2 and 2009:

Credit 4.1 (1 point) Use materials with recycled content such that the sum of postconsumer recycled content plus one-half of the pre-consumer content constitutes at least 10% (based on cost) of the total value of the materials in the project.
Credit 4.2 (1 point) Use materials with recycled content such that the sum of post-consumer recycled content plus one-half of the pre-consumer content constitutes at least 20% of the total value of the materials in the project.

“The recycled content value of a material assembly shall be determined by weight. The recycled fraction of the assembly is then multiplied by the cost of assembly to determine the recycled content value.” Since steel (the material) and steel (the building product) are the same, the value of the steel building product is directly multiplied by steel’s recycled content, or:

Steel Recycled Content Value = (Value of Steel Product) (Post-Consumer % + ½ Pre-Consumer %)

The information contained within this brochure provides post-consumer and pre-consumer recycled content percentages for North American steel building products. These percentages and values of steel building products are easily entered into LEED Letter Template spreadsheet for calculation. To illustrate the application of these steel recycled content values to LEED, manual calculations are shown below for typical Basic Oxygen Furnace (BOF) and Electric Arc Furnace (EAF) steel building products with nominal $10,000 purchases, using 2007 data. Steel building products include steel stud framing, structural steel framing (wide-flange beams, channels, angles, etc.), rebar, roofing, siding, decking, doors and sashes, windows, ductwork, pipe, fixtures, hardware (hinges, handles, braces, screws, nails), culverts, storm drains, and manhole covers.

BOF Steel Recycled Content Value for Typical Product:

Steel Stud Framing

Value = ($10,000) (25.5% + ½ 6.8%) = ($10,000) (28.9%) = $2,890

(Positive net contributor to 10% and 20% goals)

EAF Steel Recycled Content Value for Typical Product:

Wide-Flange Structural Steel Framing

Value = ($10,000) (56.9% + ½ 31.4%) = ($10,000) (72.6%) = $7,260

(Positive net contributor to 10% and 20% goals)