LEED Green Associate V4 Exam Prep

Based on the Guide to the LEED Green Associate V4 Exam by Michelle Cottrell

What does the USGBC stand for?

U.S. Green Building Council

What does LEED stand for?

Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design

What code has been developed to overlay existing, traditional building code?

International Green Construction Code (IGCC)

What savings have green buildings achieved?

26% energy use reduction, 27% higher levels of satisfaction, 33% lower CO2 emissions, 13% reduction in maintenance costs

What are the environmental benefits of green buildings?

Enhance and protect ecosystems and biodiversity, improve air and water quality, reduce solid waste, conserve natural resources.

What are the economic benefits of green building?

Reduce operating costs, enhance asset value and profits, improve employee productivity and satisfaction, optimize life-cycle economic performance.

What are the health and community benefits of green buildings?

Improve air, thermal and acoustic environments, enhance occupant comfort and health, minimize strain on local infrastructure, contribute to overall quality of life.

What is a positive feedback loop?

A perpetual and ongoing cycle of cause and effect. Examples include urban sprawl, population growth, and climate change.

What is the USGBC’s mission statement?

To transform the way buildings and communities are designed, built, and operated, enabling an environmentally and socially responsible, healthy, and prosperous environment that improves the quality of life.

Describe USGBC.

A 501©(3) nonprofit composed of leaders from every sector of the building industry working to promote buildings and communities that are environmentally responsible, profitable, and healthy places to live and work.

What is the GBCI’s mission statement?

To support a high level of competence in building methods for environmental efficiency through the development and administration of a formal program of certification and recertification.

Describe GBCI.

Provides third-party project certification and professional credentials recognizing excellence in green building performance and practice.

What is a TAG?

Technical advisory group within USGBC to help the LEED rating systems to evolve.

What are the two primary roles of USGBC?

Develop LEED rating systems, provide education and research programs.

What are the two primary roles of GBCI?

Administering the project certification process with the help of certification bodies, administering the professional accreditation process

What are the five additional strategies of the LEED for Existing Buildings: O&M rating systems?

Evaluating their exterior site maintenance programs, purchasing policies for environmentally preferred services and products, cleaning programs and policies, waste stream, ongoing indoor environmental quality

What is a negative feedback loop?

A self-regulating system. Examples include a thermostat’s change due to a sensor input.

What are the categories of the LEED for Neighborhood Development rating system?

Smart Location & Linkage, Neighborhood Pattern & Design, Green Infrastructure & Buildings, Innovation, Regional Priority

What are the two differences between prerequisits and credits?

Prerequisits are mandatory, as they address minimum performance achievements, and credits are optional. Prerequisites are not worth any points, while credits are.

What are the seven impact categories credit weightings are based on?

Climate Change, Human Health, Water Resources, Biodiversity, Material Resources, Greener Economy, and Community

What are the certification levels and coordinating point ranges for LEED?

Certified: 40-49 points

Silver: 50-59 points

Gold: 60-79 points

Platinum: 80 and higher

What is the Prius effect?

A user’s reaction when given real-time information

What is an RFI?

Request for Information

What is a CIR?

Credit Interpretation Ruling

Most of the ________ rating systems require at least ________ perent of the project’s gross floor area to be complete by the time of certification except ( ________ rating system)?

BD+C; LEED for Core & Shell

What are the three types of boundaries associated with LEED projects?

Building footprint, LEED boundary line, and property line

According to the MPRs, what is the minimum project size requirement for the BD+C and O+M rating systems?

1,000 square feet

According to the MPRs, what is the minimum project size requirement for the ID+C rating systems?

250 square feet

What are the guidelines for referencing LEED in product literature?

Manufacturers may reference LEED in their product literature providing that the language neither states nor implies endorsement by USGBC or the LEED program. The language must clearly acknowledge that LEED credit requirements do not cover the performance of individual products or brands. Products meeting LEED performance criteria can only contribute toward earning points needed for LEED certification; they cannot earn points individually for LEED certification.

What must be achieved in order for a project to be eligible for certification?

Complying with all minimum program requirements, achieving all prerequisites, and earning a minimum of 40 points.

The distance boundary from an existing feature or natural body that is a development is required to abide by is referred to as what?

Setback. Common setbacks include minimum distance from the street and sidewalk, or minimum distance from a wetland or water body.

What is a zero lot line?

A development in which the building footprint is the same as the lot boundary. This is common in urban areas.

In a construction project, what is the site area?

The total area within the project boundary of the applicant building including all areas of the property, both constructed and nonconstructed

What is the tool in which project teams utilize to communicate with GBCI?

LEED Online

What is an LPE?

Licensed-professional exemption. Path decided on a submittal template to reduce documentation requirements.

What are the six characteristics of credit interpretation rulings?

Issued after a project is registered, issued for a fee, applicable only to the project submitting the inquiry, submitted for clarification referencing one credit or prerequisite, ruling not final, submitted via LEED Online

What are the three factors certification fees are based on?

Rating system, membership, and square footage

What are the three factors to address within the SS category?

Site Design & Management, Rainwater Management, Heat Island Effect

What is floor-to-area-ratio (FAR)?

The proportion of the total floor area of a building to the total land area the building can occupy.

What are the six strategies of Site Selection?

Increase density, choose redevelopment and infill development, locate near existing infrastructure, protect habitat, increase diversity of uses, encourage multiple modes of transportation

What is community connectivity?

Proximity of the project site to local businesses and community services such as parks, grocery stores, banks, cleaners, pharmacies, and restaurants.

What is development density?

The total square footage of all buildings within a particular area, measured in square feet per acre or units per acre.

What is a brownfield?

Real property, the expansion, redevelopment, or reuse of which may be complicated by the presence of a hazardous substance, pollutant, or contaminant. Cleaning up and reinvesting in these properties protects the environments, reduces blight, and takes development pressure off green spaces and working lands.

What are the four strategies to earn Innovation points?

Exemplary performance, innovative strategy, pilot credit, including a LEED AP

What are the four strategies to promote sustainable purchasing during design and operations?

Identify local sources of environmentally preferable products, develop a sustainable materials policy, specify green materials and equipment, specify green custodial products

What are the six strategies to reduce waste during operations?

Develop a solid waste management policy; conduct a waste stream audit; maintain a recycling program; monitor, track and report; compost; provide recycling for durable goods.

What are the eight characteristics of environmentally preferred material and products?

Support local economy; sustainably grown and harvested; have intended end-of-life scenarios that avoid landfills; contain recycled content from industrial or consumer resources; made of bio-based materials; free of toxins; long lasting, durable, and reusable; made in factories that support human health and worker’s rights

What is greenwashing?

Implying a material or product is more sustainable than it actually is

What are the four impacts of transportation?

Location; vehicle technology; fuel; human behavior

What is shortest path analysis?

When determining the maximum walking and bicycle distances, take into account safety, convenience, and obstructions to movement to ensure use of amenities (as compared to the straight line radius).

What are the three strategies to reduce the transportation impacts associated with the built environment during design and cosntruction?

Choose site adjacent to mass transit; limit parking capacity; encourage bicycling

What is street grid density?

The number of centerline miles (length of a road down the center) per square mile

What are the three strategies to address for site maintenance?

Develop a sustainable management plan; implement conservation programs; maintain site lighting to prevent light pollution

What are native and adaptive plantings?

Native vegetation occurs naturally, while adaptive plantings are not natural; they can adapt to their new surroundings. Both can survive with little to no human interaction or resources.

What is potable water?

Drinking water supplied by municipalities or wells.

What is imperviousness?

Surfaces that do not allow water to pass through them.

What is perviousness?

Surfaces that allow water to percolate or penetrate through them.

What is rainwater runoff?

Rainwater that leaves a project site flowing along parking lots and roadways, traveling to sewer systems and water bodies.S

What is a footcandle?

A measurement of light measured in lumens per square foot

What is the heat island effect?

Heat absorption by low-SRI, hardscape materials that contribute to an overall increase in temperature by radiating heat.

What is emissivity as described in the Green Building and LEED Core Concepts Guide?

The ability of a material to emit energy through radiation.

What is the solar reflective index (SRI) and the associated scale?

A material’s ability to reflect or reject solar heat gain measured on a scale from 0 (dark, most absorptive) to 100 (light, most reflective).

What is evapotranspiration?

The return of water to the atmosphere through evaporation from plants’ leaves.

What is a building footprint?

The amount of land the building structure occupies, not including landscape and hardscape surfaces such as parking lots, driveways, and walkways.

What are the five strategies to address for site design?

Preserve open space and sensitive areas; minimize hardscape; use native landscaping; reduce light pollution; protect and restore habitat

What are the three design strategies to manage rainwater?

Minimize impervious areas; control rainwater; incorporate rainwater management into site design

What are the two types of water uses described in the WE category?

Indoor water; outdoor water

What is the referenced standard for the WE category?

EPAct of 1992

What is baseline versus design case?

The amount of water a conventional project would use as compared to the design case

What are examples of flow fixtures?

Sink faucets, showerheads, and aerators

How are flow fixtures measured?

Gallons per minute (gpm)

What are examples of flush fixtures?

Toilets and urinals

How are flush fixtures measured?

Gallons per flush (gpf)

What is graywater?

Wastewater from showers, bathtubs, lavatories, and washing machines. This water has not come into contact with toilet waste according to the International Plumbing Code (IPC).

What are the strategies to reduce indoor water consumption?

Use efficient fixtures; use nonpotable water; install submeters.

What are the five strategies to reduce outdoor water consumption?

Implement native and adapted plants; use xeriscaping; install/specify high-efficiency irrigation systems; use nonpotable water; install submeters

How can nonpotable water use reduce water consumption?

Indoor: toilet and urinal flushing

Outdoor: irrigation

Process: building systems

What are the uses for process water?

Industrial uses, such as chillers, cooling towers, and boilers

Business operations, such as washing machines, ice machines, and dishwashers

What are the nine strategies to improve IAQ during operations?

Ensure adequate ventilation; monitor airflow; monitor carbon dioxide; calibrate sensors; prohibit smoking; employ a green cleaning program; conduct a custodial effectiveness assessment; maintain entryway systems; use integrated pest management.

What are the benefits of using a CxA?

Minimize or eliminate design flaws; avoid construction defects; avoid equipment malfunctions; ensure preventative maintenance is implemented during operations.

What is the baseline standard for energy performance?

ASHRAE 90.1 2010, Appendix G

What are the uses for regulated energy?

Lighting: interior and exterior applications (parking garages, facades, site lighting)

HVAC: space heating, cooling, fans, pumps, toilet exhaust, ventilation for parking garages

Domestic and space heating for service water

What are the uses for process energy?

Computers, office equipment, kitchen refrigeration and cooking, washing and drying machines, and elevators and escalators. miscellaneous items, such as a waterfall pump, and lighting is exempt from lighting power allowance calculations such as lighting integrated into equipment are also categorized as process energy uses.

What two components should be evaluated when determining which refrigerants to use?

Refrigerants should be evaluated based on ODP and GWP impacts.

What is ODP?

Ozone-depleting potential

What is GWP?

Global warming potential

What is the requirement for existing building projects that have CFC refrigerants?

The CFCs must be phased out.

What are the four components of the Energy & Atmosphere category?

Energy demand; energy efficiency; renewable energy; ongoing energy performance

What are the four strategies to reduce energy demand?

Establish design and energy goals; size the building appropriately; use free energy; insulate

How are electricity, natural gas, liquid fuel each measured?

Electricity is measured in kilowatts per hour; natural gas in therms; and liquid fuel in gallons.

What are the six strategies to use energy more efficiently?

Address the envelope; install high-performance mechanical systems and appliances; use high-efficient infrastructure; capture efficiences of scale; use energy simulation; monitor and verify performance.

What are the six types of eligible renewable energy sources for LEED projects?

Solar, wind, wave, biomass, geothermal power, and low-impact hydropower

What are two ways to incorporate renewable energy into a green building project?

Generate on-site renewable energy and/or purchase green power or RECs.

What is an REC?

Renewable energy credit

What are four strategies to ensure optimal performance for a LEED project?

Adhere to the OPR; provide staff training; conduct preventative maintenance; create incentives for occupants and tenants

What are three components to address within the Materials & Resources category?

The conservation of materials; environmentally, socially, and locally preferable materials; waste management and reduction

What is a rapidly renewable material?

Fiber or animal materials that must be grown or raised in 10 years or less.

Define recycled content.

The percentage of materials in a product that are recycled form the manufacturing waste stream (preconsumer waste) or the consumer waste stream (postconsumer waste) and used to make new materials. Recycled content is typically expressed as a percentage of the total material volume or weight.

What referenced standard declares a material having postconsumer/preconsumer content?

ISO 14201-1999— Environmental Label and Declarations

Recycled material that was generated from a manufacturing process is referred to as ________.

Preconsumer. Examples include planer shavings, sawdust, bagasse, walnut shells, culls, trimmed materials, over issue publications, and obsolete inventories. Not included are rework, regrind, or scrap materials capable of being reclaimed within the same process that generated them.