Enviromental commitment in building: LEED® Accreditation

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®) is an evaluation system and international standard developed by the “U.S. Green Building Council”. Developed in the late 1990’s in the U.S.A to promote the development of buildings based on sustainable, high-efficiency criteria. At present it stands as one of the most important systems internationally, aiming to assess the sustainability of a building, taking into account its environmental impact throughout its lifecycle from design to demolition. Process execution is considered as well as any other possible interventions in same alteration or maintenance.
The system is sufficiently flexible so as to be able to be applied for any type of building. It is characterised by its providing of an assessment of the sustainability of the building taking into account five (5) main areas of impact:
1. Sustainable site
2. Protection and water efficiency
3. Energy efficiency and renewable energy
4. Preservation of materials and natural resources
5. Indoor environmental quality.
The use of natural resources, such as granite, for the manufacture of materials in construction has a direct impact on the environment. The impact of different materials is evaluated by life-cycle assessment and its respective impact categories (ICs).
The use of sustainable materials is prized, including the use of regional materials. These extracted products and materials, processed and transported within the region are used in order to reduce transport costs, while energy consumption is reduced and therefore CO2 emissions. The limit on the distance determined by LEED, for it to be considered regional material is 500 miles (800-900km) from the location of the building.

In response to the above, granite extracted and processed in Galicia may be used in almost all national areas, this being regarded as regional material.
Projects are rated relating to a set of standard credits and the sum of points earned determines the certification level: Certified, Silver, Gold, Platinum.