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VOLUNTARY GREEN BUILDING PROGRAMS
LEED®

The U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) certification is a voluntary, continuously evolving national standard for developing high performance sustainable buildings. LEED provides standards for choosing products, but does not certify products.

The criteria for Sustainable Sites Credit 7.2, Heat Island Effect: Roof, can often be met through the use of a white reflective vinyl roof or a green, planted roof. Specifically, the criteria call for using roofing materials having a solar reflectance index (SRI) of at least 78 for a minimum of 75 percent of the roof surface, or installing a vegetated roof for at least 50 percent of the roof area, or installing high albedo and vegetated roof surfaces that, in combination, meet this formula: (Area of SRI Roof / 0.75) + (Area of vegetated roof / 0.5) = Total Roof Area.

Examples of LEED-certified buildings with vinyl roofs are:

Building Name Owner Location LEED Level
Donald Bren School of Environmental Science & Management University of California,Santa Barbara Santa Barbara, California Platinum
McDonald’s Restaurant at Abercorn Common Melaver Inc. Savannah, Georgia Gold
Frito-Lay Jim Rich Service Center Frito-Lay, Inc. Rochester, New York Gold
Edifice Multifunction Travaux Public et Services Gouvernementaux Canada Montreal, Quebec Gold
The Plaza at PPL Center Liberty Property Trust Allentown, Penn. Gold
Combined Transportation Emergency & Communications Center City of Austin Austin, Texas Silver
Management Building, Technology Square Georgia Institute of Technology Atlanta, Georgia Silver
Seattle Central Library City of Seattle Seattle, Wash. Silver
National Geography Society Headquarters Complex National Geographic Society Washington, D.C. Silver
QS/1 Data Systems QS/1 Spartanburg, S.C. Silver
50 Sewall Street medical building Olympia Development Portland, Maine Certified
Joseph A. Steger Student Life Center University of Cincinnati Cincinnati, Ohio Certified
Immaculate Heart of Mary Motherhouse (renovation) Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary Monroe, Michigan Certified
Utah Olympic Oval Salt Lake City Organizing Committee of the Olympic Winter Games 2002 Salt Lake City, Utah Certified
Premier Automotive Group North American Headquarters Ford Motor Company Irvine, California Certified
Sat Com ETL Facility Raytheon Systems Company Marlborough, Mass. Certified
Stata Center Massachusetts Institute of Technology Boston, Mass. Certified
Duke University French Science Center Duke University Office at the University Architect Durham, N.C. Certified

www.usgbc.org

Green Globes™

Green Globes uses performance benchmark criteria to evaluate the probable energy consumption of a building, but instead of comparing a building design to the performance of a hypothetical structure designed to ASHRAE 90.1 standards, Green Globes compares against data generated by the EPA's Target Finder, which reflects real building performance.

To receive a final rating of one, two, three or four globes, the data submitted online must be verified by a GBI-approved and Green Globes-trained licensed engineer or architect with significant experience in building sciences and sustainability. Third-party verification is optional but required for external recognition. Once an assessment is verified by a third party, properties achieving a score of 35 percent or more receive a Green Globes rating based on the percentage of total points (up to 1,000) achieved. As many as 10 points may be awarded for 1-100 percent roof coverage with either vegetation or highly reflective materials or both. To qualify, materials must have a solar reflectance of at least 0.65 and a thermal emittance of at least 0.90.
www.thegbi.org