Page 250 - The Engineering Guide to LEED-New Construction Sustainable Construction for Engineers

LEED Materials and Resour ces 223

MASS Mass (weight) of the rapidly renewable portion of unit i
RRMi
MASS Total mass (weight) of unit i
UNITi
MATL$ Total cost of unit i
UNITi
MATL$ Value of the rapidly renewable portions of unit i
RRMi
The value of the rapidly renewable portions for each individual unit i can be determined
from the following:

MATL$ = MATL$ (MASS )/MASS (5.6.2)
RRMi UNITi RRMi UNITi
And in similar manner, the total value of the rapidly renewable portion needed in
Eq. (5.6.1) can be determined from the summation of the individual unit contributions
as follows:

MATL$ =∑MATL$ over all units i (5.6.3)
RRM RRMi
Special Circumstances and Exemplary Performance (LEED 2009 MRc6)
There may be some concern that many of these rapidly renewable products are not
available regionally or are exotic. For instance, bamboo is not commonly associated with
forests in the United States. However, many of the rapidly renewable products can be
grown and produced within various regions of the United States. Figure 5.6.1 shows a wild
growing bamboo stand in an uncultivated area around Lake Murray in South Carolina.

FIGURE 5.6.1 Bamboo growing wild near Lake Murray, S.C. (Photograph taken July 2007.)