LEED CERTIFICATION

LEED is one of the world’s most popular green building certification programs, developed by the U.S Green Building Council. It stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. 

The LEED rating system includes a combination of practices from the fields of architecture to construction. All building types can register for LEED due to the flexible nature of this certification. It applies to the whole building lifecycle, including design, maintenance operations and renovation projects.  

A scoring system monitors which environmental categories the LEED project falls into to acquire the certification. Projects aiming to become LEED Platinum must comply with all the elements in the rating systems, including reducing carbon emissions, improving energy efficiency, and protecting the environment around the project.  

 

 

How to win LEED points with Saint-Gobain Glass? 

 

LEED v4.1 category	Contribution of Saint-Gobain Glass products to LEED credits	Possible points
Energy and atmosphere	Optimizing energy performance   Renewable energy	23 points
Materials and Resources	Building life-cycle impact reduction   Environmental Product Declarations   Sourcing of raw materials   Material ingredients	11 points
Indoor Environmental Quality	Low-Emitting materials    Thermal comfort    Daylight    Quality views   Acoustic performance	9 points
Innovation	Innovation	5 points

 

 

Our contribution per category

Energy and atmosphere

Our energy-efficient glazing will allow you to save significant amounts of energy for heating and cooling needs. For this purpose, we have optimized the Low-E and solar control properties of our glass and it is now possible to get these technical details with our digital tool CALUMEN®, to help you find the right glass configuration for your project.  

After optimising the energy performance of your building with our glass solutions, the remaining energy needs can be covered by locally generated renewable energies. How? By integrating photovoltaic solar panels into the building design. Our BIPV solutions can be incorporated into the façade or roof of any building to convert sunlight directly into electricity. 

Material and resources

We provide verified EPDs (Environmental Product Declarations) for most Saint-Gobain Glass products. Following the European Union Regulation 1907/2006/EC (REACH), our raw glass products do not contain toxic or hazardous substances to ensure the workers' and occupants' well-being.   

To meet our objectives of preventing the use of virgin raw materials in our products, we have implemented a circular model to produce our glass by increasing the percentage of cullet collected from external sources. We developed a network of partners for glass recycling first in France and Sweden, and we aim to expand this network to cover our floats' needs all over the world. We also declare the percentage of cullet used in the production of our flat glass by publishing recycled content declarations.   

In 2022, we launched our range ORAÉ®, the first low-carbon glass on the market. One of the several reasons that facilitated the achievement of the lowest carbon footprint on the market was the use of a high percentage of 64% recycled content. Read more about this in the third-party verified EPD of ORAÉ® on www.environdec.com

Indoor environmental quality

Air quality is crucial for occupants' health & well-being indoors. As glass is an inherently non-emitting source of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and the PVB interlayers used in our laminated glass STADIP® emit very limited quantities of VOCs, as a result, our glass is ranked at the highest score A+ according to French standards on VOCs.  

We also value the importance of daylight exposure for occupants. We have optimized the light and solar energy transmission accordingly while reducing glare to guarantee their access to outside views.  

In addition, we improve the thermal insulation of our glass to reduce heat losses and avoid overheating. We developed special coatings to optimize indoor temperature depending on the weather conditions outside.  

Lastly, our laminated glass can be made with an acoustic film to ensure sound isolation and shield occupants from background external noises. 

Innovation

As part of the 100 Global Innovators for the tenth year in a row, we at Saint-Gobain Glass put innovation at the heart of our strategy. We constantly innovate and improve our products to meet today’s needs. For instance, our 4BIRD® range of bird-friendly glass solutions was designed to protect birds from collisions with glass surfaces while ensuring high energy efficiency of the glazing.   

We can also provide you with a detailed document outlining the potential contribution of Saint-Gobain Glass products to achieve the LEED certification for your project.