Available through the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED®) program, LEED v4 is the newest iteration of a benchmark standard for high-performance green buildings. The LEED v4 standard is vastly different from its predecessor (LEED v2009) with respect to volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions compliance in building construction. Eligibility for earning a LEED v4 “Low-Emitting Materials” credit requires that a project team have the collective body of knowledge and experience to stay below the required threshold emission levels of interior coatings applied on-site in a residential or commercial construction project, combined with three other interior low-emitting material categories: adhesives and sealants; flooring systems; and composite wood. Hospital and school construction projects have added criteria that must be factored into emissions threshold levels to include the category of ceilings, walls, thermal, and acoustic insulation, as well as that of exterior applied products.
Within a building interior, the threshold levels of LEED v4 compliance include total VOC emissions, as well as “general emissions.” Achieving the “Low-Emitting Materials” credit earns a project team up to three points toward certification under the new rating system.