LEED v5, the newest version of the LEED rating system, introduces new requirements for green building projects, which can mean more data to find, more calculations to perform, and more information for project teams to manage.
But your team shouldn’t have to spend more time tracking down data and dealing with spreadsheets just to get the information you need. That’s why Green Badger created two new free tools designed to take some of the manual work out of LEED planning: Site Signal and Water Signal.
Site Signal helps you get a head start on LEED v5 planning assessments using data tied to your project location. Water Signal helps you model water use (indoor, outdoor and whole building), test different fixture strategies, and understand how those decisions could affect LEED performance.
Both are built around the same idea that has always driven Green Badger: spend less time managing sustainability data and more time using it to make your project better.
Site Signal: Turn a Project Address Into a Head Start on LEED v5
LEED v5 introduces three planning assessments for D+C projects: Climate Resilience, Human Impact, and Carbon. Getting started on those assessments can mean tracking down information across multiple public databases and then transferring that information into the appropriate LEED workbooks.
Site Signal was built to take some of that manual research off your plate. Enter a U.S. project address and Site Signal researches public climate, demographics, and carbon data associated with the location and uses it to pre-populate the three official LEED v5 D+C planning workbooks.
- For the Climate Resilience Assessment, Site Signal researches all 15 hazard rows in the LEED template using sources including the FEMA National Risk Index and flood maps, NOAA sea-level-rise data, and NOAA climate projections for the building’s expected service life.
- For the Human Impact Assessment, it brings together Census demographics, walkability data, CDC environmental justice and social vulnerability indicators, air quality, food access, and other publicly available information about the surrounding community.
- For the Carbon Assessment, Site Signal pre-fills grid emissions factor, project type, and area.
In about two to four minutes, the tool generates the three workbooks along with a one-page Methodology & Review Brief explaining where the data came from, what assumptions were made, and what still requires additional review.
There are parts of these assessments that no public database can answer, which is why Site Signal offers two assessment depths:
Quick mode uses the project address and documented assumptions to get teams started quickly. Project-specific portions of the Climate Resilience workbook, including Exposure, Sensitivity, Adaptive Capacity, Impact on Function, and Vulnerability are left blank and identified as open items for the project team.
Detailed mode asks eight additional questions about the building and its operations, including critical-system location, backup power and water capacity, occupancy, envelope construction, structural system, passive survivability, and other factors. Site Signal then uses those answers and a documented rubric to calculate the project-specific portions of the Climate Resilience workbook. Each calculation includes its derivation in the workbook’s notes column so the project team and reviewer can see how the value was reached.
Every question is optional and if information isn’t available, Site Signal uses a documented default and identifies that assumption in the workbook. Teams can see the public data that was used, the project information they provided, the assumptions that were made, what Site Signal calculated, and what still needs additional input or review.
Water Signal: See How Design Decisions Affect Water Use and LEED Points
Our second new tool tackles a much more familiar LEED calculation: water use. Water Signal lets teams model both indoor and outdoor water consumption and see how different design decisions affect water-use reductions and potential LEED points.
Enter basic project occupancy information, including employees, visitors, students or residents, and then adjust fixture efficiency levels. As you make changes, Water Signal calculates:
- Baseline annual water use
- Estimated design water use
- Gallons saved annually
- Percentage water-use reduction
- Potential LEED points
You can also set a target water-use reduction and have Water Signal automatically select fixture-efficiency tiers to help reach that target.
For outdoor water use, teams can enter the project’s landscaped area, climate information, hydrozones, landscape types, irrigation technologies and alternative water sources. Water Signal provides all the rainfall and climate data based on project address and calculates the project’s expected irrigation demand and shows what may still be needed to meet the LEED prerequisite or achieve additional points. Teams can compare strategies such as changing turf or plant types, improving irrigation controls and incorporating alternative water.
Water Signal also distinguishes between the prerequisite and credit calculations. Alternative water can improve credit performance, but the prerequisite reduction must come from landscape and irrigation efficiency.
That makes Water Signal useful for more than completing calculations after decisions have already been made. Teams can use it earlier to compare options, understand tradeoffs and work backward from a specific LEED goal. Once the inputs are complete, Water Signal can export the official LEED indoor water-use calculator for LEED v4 or v5 and a review of the outdoor water-use results.
