Microfiber Ceiling Panels and LEED

Hi Vicente,

Thank you for your question! It depends on the properties of the microfiber ceiling panels you are sourcing.

LEED certification works by awarding points for building design according to environmental impact standards. There are also prerequisites that all LEED certified buildings must comply with. The major categories of environmental impact are:

- Sustainable Sites (SS)
- Water Efficiency (WE)
- Energy and Atmosphere (EA)
- Materials and Resources (MR)
- Indoor Environmental Quality (EQ)

These are not all of the categories of environmental impact, but they are the main ones. There are prerequisites and credits in each of these categories.

In the newest version of LEED, called LEED v4, there is a credit called "Acoustic Performance" that can be awarded for good acoustics inside buildings in the Indoor Environmental Quality category of the LEED Building Design and Construction (BD+C) rating system. There is also a prerequisite for the rating system for Schools which makes good acoustics mandatory according to the ANSI Standard S12.60–2010, Part 1, Annex A.1; the 2011 HVAC Applications ASHRAE Handbook, Chapter 48, Noise and Vibration Control (with errata); AHRI Standard 885–2008; or a local equivalent for projects outside the U.S.

I am not familiar with the properties of microfiber ceiling panels, but you can ask the manufacturers for documentation to verify the noise reduction coefficient of the panels you are looking at. LEED BD+C indicates to specify and install finish materials with a high noise reduction coefficient (NRC), typically ratings of 0.70 or higher. For instance, I found this aluminum micro fiber ceiling panel: http://www.fuzing.com/vli/004131e5a346/Aluminum-Fiber-Panel-__-Microfiber-ceiling-panel

For this or any other you would collect manufacturer’s documentation to verify the NRC of each acoustic finish material and record the area of each acoustic finish material for credit documentation.

If your panels have good acoustical or noise dampening qualities, they could contribute to LEED for the Acoustics prerequisite and/or credit.

Here are some other credits that your ceiling panels could comply with:

Low Emitting Materials

Any material, such as your ceiling panels, can contribute toward "EQ Credit Low Emitting Materials" credit if it meets the requirements for compliance.

About the EQ Credit for Low Emitting Materials, the BD+C Reference Guide states: "Ideally, all interior building materials—from furniture and furnishings to thermal and acoustic insulation and the interior finishes of all floors, walls, and ceilings—would be compliant. This credit, however, uses a holistic systems approach that rewards teams for partial compliance, recognizing compliance of product assemblies even if some of their elements do not meet the applicable standard. This credit addresses each layer of wall, flooring, and ceiling interior finish—a methodology that is conservatively protective of occupants, given that the emissions from layers that are not directly exposed to air are tested separately."

Recycled Content

If your ceiling panels are comprised of a portion or 100% made of pre-consumer or post-consumer recycled content, they could contribute toward the LEED credits for MR Recycled Content. Recycled content claims for products must conform to the definition in ISO 14021–1999, Environmental Labels and Declarations, Self-Declared Environmental Claims (Type II Environmental Labeling).

Rob