By Matthew Spieler
Hicksville, N.Y.—Two months ago, Floor Covering News was the first publication to write a story about the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) new LEED for Homes rating system and how it seemingly punished carpet by awarding a half-point of credit if the home uses only hard surface flooring ( FCNews, Nov. 26/Dec. 12).

While the carpet industry was quick to respond and voice its displeasure and shock over the way their product is being treated, the USGBC was unavailable for comment at the time the original story went to press.

Recently, Michelle Moore, a senior vice president at the non-profit organization, responded to questions about the LEED for Homes designation as well as other concerns raised in the original story.

First, LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, and is “a voluntary, consensus-based national rating system for developing high-performance, sustainable buildings. The program was developed by USGBC as practical rating tool for green building design and construction that provides immediate and measurable results for building owners and occupants.” Originally created for the commercial sector, there are currently nine LEED programs ranging from new and existing structures to schools, retail, healthcare and now new residential housing construction.

Moore said while she can sympathize with how the sector feels based on the events over the last 20 years, the carpet industry is wrong to think it is being punished in the LEED for Homes rating system and feels some people are “making more of this than it should be or needs to be. I worked in the carpet industry so I can empathize with how the industry feels.” But she added this has to be looked at in a holistic manner.

“There is a set of prerequisites—things to do at a minimum—to achieve a Certified rating,” Moore explained. “Then there are credits to get to a different rating level—Silver, Gold or Platinum. It’s sort of like a Chinese menu in that the builder or individual picks what’s important. Many times that depends where a project is located. For example, in the desert, they focus more on water conservation, while in the Northeast it’s more on the heating system.”

She pointed out that both carpeting and hard surface flooring are treated equal in that each can add up to 1.5 credits to a home’s point total. “The LEED system rewards good practices and gives multiple paths to go down for use of sustainable and environmental quality materials. You don’t need to do all of them or any if you don’t want to.”

Moore added there is also another way for flooring—any surface type—to earn points through the use of innovation and design credits. Obtained via petition, this is done because “we know we haven’t come up with every innovative green concept and method, and this is a way for a project to be awarded additional credits based on innovative use.”

Feeling left out

While the way credits are awarded has the carpet sector on edge, the industry as a whole is “miffed” because it feels it was left out of the process and was never given a “fair” chance to voice its opinion in the matter and state its case.

Moore cannot understand this, explaining LEED for Homes has been in development for years, including “an extensive pilot project” begun in August 2005 “that involved over 12,000 homes and 500 builders across the U.S., with approximately 400 homes certified. Plus there was a whole draft process and two public comment periods—that had more than 2,000 individual comments received—so there has been ample opportunity in this for dialogue. But during this whole time we never heard anything negative from the carpet industry.”

She added USGBC informs both the public and its membership in a variety of ways—not just for new things in development but when major milestones are taking place. “It’s unfortunate the industry missed the opportunity, but USGBC has a process and we have to be true to it. How they missed it, I can’t explain. There are member contacts who get USGBC announcements and they should have gotten all the ones we sent for LEED for Homes.”

Moore acknowledged how “proactive and helpful” the industry has been in the development of other LEED rating systems. “There are a lot of good things it has done on a whole, and we consistently recognize and appreciate its undertaking.”

Wrong assumption

But in this case, she said that LEED for Homes is very different than the commercial ratings systems under the program. And, if someone thought they were the same and didn’t really look at it in depth or pay attention to any of the notifications then “they made a wrong assumption.”

Every mill executive FCNews has spoken with—for the original story and since—as well as the Carpet & Rug Institute (CRI) insists they were never informed of the various timeframes to interact on LEED for Homes. Some say they went back more than two years in their records looking for evidence of being notified about the various stages and found nothing (see related story on previous page).

Since then, the carpet industry has filed a procedural appeal with USGBC’s Governance Committee. Moore said the committee was looking into the complaint to see whether the organization missed something along the way.

Always next year

The committee was expected to make a ruling at any moment, but as of press time no announcement was made. If it rules no infractions occurred Moore said it does not mean the rating system is set in stone. “We’ve told the carpet people that we hope to have their input going forward.”

She said USGBC is actually going through a major process this year called “book-shelving in order to harmonize and align all the credits” of the various rating systems. “Like everything these are documents in evolution. Ultimately, this will put us in a better position to innovate if issues come up like this or new innovations come up.”

This initiative, Moore added, also allows USGBC to better update the ratings as new technologies, products and services are developed. “Our goal is to update the LEED credits every year so that we can stay on top of new technology and maintain a healthy debate. There are lots of instances where there is incomplete information.”

One example, she pointed to is life cycle analysis (LCA). “This is an area very important to us this year. There are so many different issues that impact LCA.” This is an area, Moore added, where the carpet industry has provided “very beneficial information and we appreciate its undertaking.”

But, unless the Governance Committee finds something wrong, the industry will have to once again go on the offensive trying to show why and how its products are a benefit to indoor air quality and not a hindrance.