Evaluate whole buildings under LEED Pilot Credit 63.

Whole Building LCA

Assessing Entire Building Systems

As an architect or designer, property owner, building professional, or facility manager, identifying cost-effective solutions to minimize the environmental impacts of your building can be a real challenge. Whole Building LCAs remove the guesswork by enabling you to model all life cycle (LCA) impacts of your building, monitor actual impacts over time, and modify practices and purchases to achieve the best environmental performance results.

SCS Global Services can produce a Life Cycle Impact Profile for your building and offer you a groundbreaking online tool to drive ongoing improvements. With this information, you can test and apply new strategies and options to reduce environmental and human health impacts before committing resources. By tying LCA evaluation to design decisions, you are also equipped to qualify for USGBC LEED Pilot Credit 63.

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With nearly three decades of expertise in life cycle assessment (LCA) and green building certification, SCS remains at the forefront of LCA and Whole Building LCA development.

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Online Calculator

Based on life cycle assessment (LCA), the Whole Building LCA is a groundbreaking online tool that accounts for all environmental and human health impacts from building design and construction through operations and maintenance, occupancy, and end-of life.

Check out our FREE online Whole Building LCA tool

Pilot Credit 63

USGBC LEED Rating System Pilot Credit 63 recognizes building materials and assemblies that reduce environmental impacts and improve economic and social performance. By undergoing a Whole Building LCA with SCS, you are equipped with data to inform design decisions, which in turn help you qualify for USGBC LEED Pilot Credit 63.

Qualification Criteria

To qualify for credit, new construction buildings or additions must demonstrate 10% or higher impact reduction in comparison to a reference building in a minimum of 3 of the 6 impact categories listed below, and the remaining impact categories must perform at least on par with the reference building.

  • Global warming potential (greenhouse gases)
  • Depletion of the stratospheric ozone layer
  • Acidification of land and water sources
  • Eutrophication
  • Formation of troposheric ozone
  • Depletion of non-renewable energy resources

You will need to submit the summary results of your Whole Building LCA for the materials and assemblies explored. You will also need to explain your rationale for comparing specific assemblies, along with any conclusions learned and any decisions made as a result of the study. Our software tool meets ISO requirements for LCA and is approved for use in this pilot credit.

Benefits

For the first time, property owners, building professionals, facility managers, and occupants can collaborate to determine the best ways to minimize environmental impacts. The Whole Building LCA interactive platform enables users to:

Design and Construction
  • Make environmentally informed choices about building products and materials, landscaping, and infrastructure
  • Focus LEED projects on credits that maximize environmental benefit per dollar invested
Occupancy
  • Minimize impacts from tenant improvement
  • Reduce workforce impacts associated with furniture, equipment, office supplies and other daily activities and purchases
Operations and Maintenance
  • Identify cost-effective equipment and service options with greatest energy and water efficiency and lowest environmental impacts
Transportation
  • Guide your workforce toward commute, business travel, and other daily travel options with the lowest impacts

Employee Ecoprofiles

Employee ecoprofiles, developed as part of the Whole Building LCA program, provide building occupants with a unique means of tracking individual impacts related to commute, transportation and other work-related activities. This management tool helps identify opportunities and incentivize action toward impact reduction.

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