Green building is expected to grow six to 10 percent this year, yet the path to get there is long process requiring research to determine if products contribute toward the coveted LEED certification.
The Mohawk Group is helping to shorten the environmental product specification process with its new LEED PLUS calculator. Powered by ecoScorecard from Viridity Inc., the LEED PLUS calculator is a web based tool that allows users to search building products and calculate the USGBC’s LEED points, along with several other industry environmental ratings, in minutes.
ecoScorecard is an environmental software company that helps architects, designers and builders build green more efficiently. Using web based tools, ecoScorecard lets manufacturers efficiently provide information and documentation to the architects and designers that specify their products. ecoScorecard is provided as a free service to architects and designers, and is provided via license to manufacturers.
“We understand the design community has a plethora of green building product options, but finding the right one that fits within an installation can be a challenge, particularly when you’re trying to meet an environmental standard or certification,” said Al Kabus, president, The Mohawk Group. “As a company committed to ‘sustainability that works,’ we’re going beyond just offering sustainable carpet. We are working with our customers to provide the tools and information necessary to make their jobs easier and less time intensive.”
“Mohawk is providing its customers with a virtual green building consultant. In effect, they’re helping to make green building easier,” said Paul Shahriari, CEO, ecoScorecard. Mohawk customers can access the LEED PLUS calculator evaluation tool by logging onto The Mohawk Group’s web site or one of its brand sites—Bigelow, Lees, Karastan, or Durkan (coming soon). Simply select a product and then choose which system to rate it against—LEED, CHPS (Collaborative For High Performance Schools), GGHC (Green Guide For Healthcare), LABS21 (Laboratories For The 21st Century)—or check compliance for prevalent third party certifications. Results are delivered in minutes via a PDF report. For added convenience, users can save their reports and use them as supplemental product documentation to be included along with LEED or equivalent certification submissions.
“On average, an architecture firm can spend anywhere from 100 to 200 hours gathering and evaluating data for LEED projects with the majority of this time spent on product specification,” said Lewis Perkins, director of sustainable strategies, The Mohawk Group. “With the LEED PLUS calculator we’ve done all the legwork. Days, weeks, and even months spent evaluating products are reduced to mere moments so that users can focus on what’s truly important—achieving a high quality project on time and on budget.”
Balancing the Sustainable Equation
Prior to launching its LEED PLUS calculator, The Mohawk Group worked with Viridity to provide relevant environmental information about each of its products. The Viridity team of green building experts evaluated and documented these products against the various rating systems. Now, when users perform a search, the information is delivered using software with embedded algorithms.
“The path to sustainability is ongoing, and the rules and regulations are always changing,” added Perkins. “This calculator gives us the ability to anticipate customers’ future needs and prepare for changes yet to come.”
As The Mohawk Group releases more offerings, additional products can easily be added and rated at any time. The calculator is updated to the environmental rating systems within 48 hours of every change. In fact, Mohawk and Viridity are already working to rate the products by the new provisions of LEED 2009.
LEED PLUS calculator is the latest in a series of solutions The Mohawk Group has introduced within the last few months designed with the customer in mind to streamline the specification process. In June, the company introduced Drag and Fly—a first of its kind “drag and place” software for carpeting images. The easy to use web based application provides architects and designers with an array of high resolution images allowing for on the spot and accurately scaled placement of modular carpeting images into 3D renderings or computer aided drawings (CAD).
