Using LEED-EB to Guide Building and
Site-wide Environmental Performance at
New Hampshire Ball Bearings, Inc.
Costs and Benefits of
Implementing LEED-EB
Costs
Wide range of
implementation
costs depending
on condition
of facility
buildings and
site.
Capital
expenditures
for new
materials and
technologies;
e.g., biomass
boiler, low flow
faucets, and
other resource-
efficient
technologies.
Calculating
baselines for
indoor air
quality, water,
and energy
performance
may require
outside
contractors.
Fee pa id to
USGBCfor LEED
certification.
Savings and
Other Benefits
Reduced operating cost
as demand for water and
energy is reduced.
Encourages cost saving
improvements—e.g., biomass
boiler reduces NHBB's fuel
costs.
Improved indoor work
environment from better
indoor air quality; employees
may take fewer sick days.
Creates new capabilities in
energy management and
performance tracking.
National
Environmental
PerformanceTrack
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
PERFORMANCE TRACK FACILITY
New Hampshire Ball Bearings, Inc.,
Peterborough, New Hampshire
GOAL CATEGORY
Alternative Goal: Implement LEED-EB Green Building Practices
RELATED INDICATORS
Inputs: Water Use, Energy Use
OVERVIEW
New Hampshire Ball Bearings, Inc., (NHBB) manufactures precision bearings and bearing
products. The HiTech Division of NHBB occupies a 240,000-square-foot facility on 35
acres in the rural Monadnock region of southwestern New Hampshire. As a charter
member of EPA's Performance Track program, NHBB uses its Environmental Management
System (EMS) to push continuous improvement across its facility operations. In 2007, the
facility initiated a three-year project to improve the environmental performance of its non-
production buildings by following the LEED-EB process.
LEED—Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design—is a voluntary rating
system developed by the U.S. Green Building Council. It provides a benchmark for
"green buildings" by establishing a common standard of measurement for building
performance. Traditional building management practices consume large amounts of
natural resources in the form of energy use, water use, and cleaning materials; LEED-
EB (Existing Buildings) addresses these impacts by supporting the efforts of building
managers and owners to reduce the environmental footprints of existing buildings.
By following LEED-EB standards, commercial buildings can achieve lower operating
costs and higher indoor air quality compared with buildings that follow traditional
management practices. NHBB began its LEED-EB effort in 2007, and is on track to meet
the requirements for certification by 2010.
NHBB'S GREEN BUILDING INITIATIVE
After making substantial environmental performance improvements since the beginning
of its Performance Track membership, NHBB decided to pursue LEED-EB certification as
a way to raise the bar on its sustainable building operation and maintenance practices.
The LEED-EB process requires periodic recertification and emphasizes continuous
improvement over a building's entire useful life. LEED's structured, performance-based
rating system draws attention to a wide range of improvement areas, including indoor
air quality, exterior building site management (e.g., landscaping), water and energy
use, environmentally preferred products for cleaning and alterations, and waste stream
management. The LEED system rates buildings in six categories:
* Sustainable Sites
* Water Efficiency
* Energy and Atmosphere
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NHBB's biomass boiler helps the facility earn points toward LEED-
EB certification and uses locally sourced wood pellets, which are
considered carbon neutral.
* Materials and Resources
* Indoor Environmental Quality
* Innovation in Upgrades, Operations, and Maintenance
Within these categories are general prerequisites for
performance, along with specific environmental goals in
areas such as stormwater management, water-use reduction,
and recycling by occupants. For NHBB, the LEED-EB process
uncovered new opportunities for non-production building
performance improvements that had not been considered within
the facility's EMS targets. By focusing on buildings, the LEED
framework expanded NHBB's ongoing pollution prevention
efforts beyond the manufacturing floor.
A points-based scoring system is a central element of the
certification process and provides a clear agenda for measuring
sustainable building performance improvements according to
monitored and documented goals. The LEED points system is
flexible and allows the project team to decide which points
offer the greatest benefit for the project. Points are awarded
for sustainable practices that address a building's environmental
impact, defined as the environmental or human effect of
the design, construction, operation, and maintenance of the
building, such as greenhouse gas emissions, fossil fuel use,
toxins and carcinogens, air and water pollutants, and indoor
environmental conditions. To identify opportunities for receiving
LEED points, NHBB used the building scorecard as a gauge for
certification readiness, and is now in the process of implementing
a LEED-EB plan based on its baseline calculations.
Many of NHBB's LEED-EB improvements evolved from ongoing
efforts at the facility: e.g., procurement of materials with the
highest available recycled content, the use of GreenSeal janitorial
products, and installation of a biomass boiler powered by wood
pellets sourced seven miles from the NHBB facility. Installing
the biomass boiler was a big capital investment, but by using
a local, renewable resource for fuel, the facility is saving tens
of thousands of dollars in fuel costs annually, and dramatically
reducing its carbon footprint.1
IMPLEMENTING LEED-EB AT NHBB
The LEED reporting system can take time to adopt: while a
facility may already be following some relevant practices, it may
be necessary to reformat existing data in order to meet LEED
protocols. Implementation of the LEED-EB program has been
easier at NHBB due to its existing EMS. Having an ISO 14001 EMS
certification complements the LEED process in many ways:
* It enables NHBB to identify and control the environmental
impacts of its business activities.
* It provides data to link improvement goals with performance
changes over the course of an existing building's useful life.
* LEED-EB supports a facility's EMS by incorporating
non-production assets and the entire building portfolio.
To obtain LEED points, NHBB is leveraging past improvements
and pursuing new facility management practices, including:
* Erosion and sediment control policies and procedures
* Use of a biomass boiler on site
* Responsible snow and ice management
(e.g., minimizing the use of salt)
* Tighter building water-efficiency measures and monitoring
using LEED calculation protocols
* Building-wide energy performance calculations according to
LEED
* Waste stream audits
* Indoor air-quality calculations
Some of these past improvements had been performed as part
of NHBB's EMS, but reformatting was necessary to document
information according to LEED specifications.
1 Wood pellet fuel is considered carbon neutral because a tree
will absorb as much carbon during its lifetime as it gives off when
it is burned, with no net gain in carbon dioxide emissions.
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Calculating baseline metrics is challenging for certain LEED-EB
goals, including indoor air quality and energy measurements.
Normally, Energy Star's Portfolio Manager tool can help building
managers establish an energy performance baseline and
identify cost-effective opportunities for increased efficiency, but
NHBB building types do not meet the existing criteria currently
established in Portfolio Manager. The facility had to hire outside
experts to perform these calculations.
BENEFITS OF LEED-EB FOR NHBB
LEED-EB presents facility managers with a strong, data-driven
approach to minimizing the negative impacts of buildings on
the environment. Successful implementation of the LEED-EB
process results in benefits for everyone associated with the
building: owners save on operating costs and have an increased
value asset; occupants work in a healthier workspace resulting
in reduced absenteeism; and the community benefits from
reduced demand for landfill space, water and wastewater
treatment services, and energy generation. Energy performance
improvements such as NHBB's biomass boiler also can generate
cost savings over time if the price of energy increases. NHBB
sees its green building initiative as a new way to operationalize
the sustainability mindset—another demonstration of its
commitment to continuous environmental improvement.
RESOURCES FOR MORE INFORMATION
* EPA's Green Building site [http://www.epa.gov/greenbuilding/]
is a gateway to information on how to create and use
healthier and more resource-efficient models of construction,
renovation, operation, maintenance and demolition.
* The U.S. Green Building Council [http://www.usgbc.org/] is
a nonprofit trade organization that promotes sustainable
construction and building management practices. It
develops LEED standards and offers a host of educational
opportunities, including workshops and Web-based seminars
to educate the public and industry professionals on different
elements of the green building industry.
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