LEED Certification & Buy American

American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA)

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 was implemented to preserve
and create jobs and to promote economic recovery. Buy American is section 1605 of this Act.
View the Karpen Steel Certification of American Made

LEED Certification

(Download a printable version of this information)  LEED Programs

LEED is an internationally recognized green building certification system, providing third-party verification that a building or community was designed and built using strategies aimed at improving performance across all the metrics that matter most: energy savings, water efficiency, CO₂ emissions reduction, improved indoor environmental quality, and stewardship of resources and sensitivity to their impacts. Developed by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), LEED provides building owners and operators a concise framework for identifying and implementing practical and measurable green building design, construction, operations and maintenance solutions.

The certification process for a building involves a lot of paperwork for the contractor and architect. Certification of a building is achieved by accumulating points. Backup from suppliers is required on qualifying items to substantiate their claim for the credits for the certification level they desire for the building.

There are a number of features that affect the materials rating. The ones that most affect the hollow metal door and frame industry are:

Material and Resources:

• Amount of recycled content.
  • This recycled content can be either post-consumer or post-industrial. Most programs are looking for greater than 30% recycled content.
  • Steel is the most common recycled material in the United States. Hollow Metal doors and frames are a great fit to the green building movement. The purpose of recycling is to divert scrap from our landfills back to a usable product. Recycling helps ease the demand for harvesting and mining of raw materials. Recycling is one of the most environmentally friendly practices we can incorporate.
• Ability to be recycled (recyclability of end product)
• Distance of raw materials from manufacturing location.
• Distance of manufacturer to end user.
  • The Local/Regional Materials credit is for building materials that are manufactured (final assembly point) within 500 miles of the project. This supports the regional economy and reduces the environmental impact resulting from transportation.

Indoor Environmental Quality:

• Low VOC Emitting Materials.