synergy (syn·er·gy)
- the interaction of two or more agents or forces so that their combined effect is greater than the sum of their individual effects.
- cooperative interaction among groups, especially among the acquired subsidiaries or merged parts of a corporation, that creates an enhanced combined effect.
- the name I would give to an energy drink I invent, but I’d replace the “y” with an “i” and serve it exclusively at high-end clubs for great-tasting jager-bombs.
Synergies in LEED are very important and is an essential ingredient in designing successful green buildings. Plus, they may show up on the test in one form or another – so pay attention.
Understanding synergies in LEED means understanding how different design strategies are interconnected and may contribute to more than one LEED credit. Synergies aren’t always good though, as some strageties can be great for one credit but terrible for another – at the same time. I’ll outline some examples for you:
- Rainwater Collection
- Good Synergies
- collecting from roof runoff reduces quantity of stormwater to be managed
- saves fees associated with handling runoff volumes
- resource for landscape irrigation
- source of non-potable water for flushing toilets and urinals
- provides opportunity to displace potable water use for HVAC (water for cooling towers)
- Good Synergies
- Daylighting
- Good Synergies
- can reduce need for electric lighting
- capture savings in electricity
- capture savings from reduced cooling loads and downsizing cooling equipment
- can provide passive solar heating
- may permit elimination of perimeter heating
- an integrated design effort may include addressing operating costs for both electricity and natural gas, environmental impacts related to energy consumption, initial costs for heating and cooling, the quality of lighting and thermal comfort.
- Bad Synergies
- in cold-climate, skin-load dominated buildings, great daylighting may mean poor insulation (roof, walls and glazing). This could raise overall heating loads for the building.
- innapropiate fenestration (the placement of windows on a building’s facade) can also lead to overheating of occupants near windows, glare problems, and higher cooling loads in the summer.
- Good Synergies
- Light Colored Pervious Paving
- Good Synergies
- reduces heat-island effects
- reduction of stormwater runoff
- treatment of stormwater runoff
- improved mid-summer microclimate thermal comfort
- reduction of cooling loads
- possible rainwater collection for irrigation and flushing
- Bad Synergies
- if implemented innapropiately in a winter-dominated climate and/or with insufficient drainage, potential benefits may be reduced and may actually increase overall energy consumption and cause maintainance problems.
- i.e. having to plow snow that would of melted on black asphalt
- snow removal equipment may damage the paving
- cracking and buckling of the paving due to bad drainage and build up of silt
- if implemented innapropiately in a winter-dominated climate and/or with insufficient drainage, potential benefits may be reduced and may actually increase overall energy consumption and cause maintainance problems.
- Good Synergies
- Use of Wheatboard
- Good Synergies
- Initially more expensive, but saves money due to it’s durability compared to sheetrock.
- saves costs on installation and maintainance
- The benefits associated with using a renewable agricultural byproduct
- Initially more expensive, but saves money due to it’s durability compared to sheetrock.
- Bad Synergies
- if used with a finish or stain high up on walls, distribution of daylight may be severely constrained (because wheatboard is relatively dark)
- here, it would absorb light rather than reflect it deeper into spaces.
- this would result in a reduced displacement of electric lighting and greater energy consumption.
- because of the reduced thermal mass of wheatboard, in some cases this may lead to greater fluctuations in interior temperatures
- if used with a finish or stain high up on walls, distribution of daylight may be severely constrained (because wheatboard is relatively dark)
- Good Synergies
- Vegetated Roofs (every practice exam I’ve seen involved vegetated roofs in some fashion)
- Good Synergies
- reduction of roof rainwater runoff
- reduction of heat-island effects
- reduction of cooling loads by buffering roof membrane from sun exposure and through evapotranspiration.
- this can reduce electric power demand and permit downsizing of cooling equipment and save costs
- vegetation and soil also provide an added layer of insulation to prevent escape of winter heating energy from the building
- aesthetic appeal
- can communicate leadership in sustainability in the community
- provide habitat for birds and other wildlife
- Good Synergies
I just wanted to say thank you for making greenexamacademy.com a successful and fun resource for me to work on. I will continue to provide you helpful information that I’ve learned while studying for my exam which I take in exactly 10 days. I’ll also keep it going after I pass! (knock on wood) Wish me luck! After only two weeks of launching greenexamacademy.com, I surpassed 10,000 overall visitors today – and I hope I can someday reach 1,000,000! Thank you so much! Cheers!
18 Comments On This Post
Hi Pat,
I just found out that you commented on Our Green Journey a few days ago — thanks! I am going to be studying for my LEED AP, so this blog will definitely be of great help. Keep up the great work!
Thanks Lisa! I hope the blog proves to be helpful for you. Good luck studying, and you can be sure I’ll be subscribing to “Our Green Journey” too!
Did you derive the ‘bad synergies’ directly from the LEED study materials? The only reason I ask is that the list of bad synergies for light colored pervious paving is not entirely correct. If the study materials are not qualifying these statements, it could potentially result in developers being somewhat discouraged from using this pervious materials.
Here are the reasons why I believe the statements are not entirely correct.
In cold climates (like Minnesota)snow fall on an existing pervious parking area usually disappears on its own before snow on the adjacent, darker colored, impervious suface. Manual snow removal from this pervious surface has seldom been necessary.
If pervious paving systems are installed properly, snow plows will not damage them (if operated properly). Proper operation includes installation of skids or wheels on the shovel to keep it lifted slightly off of the paver surface.
If bad drainage occurs around a pervious surface, then the pervious surface location was a bad choice (someone didn’t do a proper site analysis), the paver bed was improperly prepared, or runoff from an adjacent area is being improperly directed to the pervious surface. Runon to a pervious surface should never be allowed unless it is a deliberate part of the drainage design (which for most pervious systems is NOT the case). Additionally, siltation also should not occur if the pervious system was properly designed and on-site conditions remain consistent with the design conditions. Most pervious systems seldom need vacuuming, even after years of operation – again, so long as runon is not allowed and the pervious system has ben properly installed in an appropropriate location.
Just my 2 cents. Obviously we are being tested on what the LEED study materials say. Hopefully these types of discrepancies will be cleared up over time as we all become more familiar with sustainable design practices and materials.
Another good synergy with green roofs is that it can contribute to SS cr. 5.2: Site Development: Maximize Open Space. If the project qualifies for SS cr. 2 about development density, then green roofs can be counted as open space.
Hello, is there a site or place on this site that has the breakdown of needed ASTM standards for the LEED-NC exam?
Hi Heather,
I’m sorry to say that there has not yet been a list of the ASTM standards for the NC Exam on this website. It’s a good idea though, so here it is for you:
ASTM E1903 “Phase II Environmental Site Assessment.” (SSc3)
ASTM C1371-04 “Standard Test Method for Determination of Emittance of Materials Near Room Temperature Using Portable Emissometers.” (SSc7.2)
ASTM C1549-04 “Standard Test Method for Determination of Solar Reflectance Near Ambient Temperature Using a Portable Solar Reflectometer.” (SSc7.2)
ASTM E408-71 “Standard Test Methods for Total Normal Emittance of Surfaces Using Inspection Meter Techniques.” (SSc7.2)
ASTM E903-96 “Standard Test Method for Solar Absorptance, Reflectance and Transmittance of Materials Using Integrated Spheres.” (SSc7.2)
ASTM E1918-97 “Standard Test Method for Measuring Solar Reflectance of Horizontal and Low-Sloped Surfaces in the Field.” (SSc7.2)
ASTM E1980-01 “Standard Practice for Calculating Solar Refletance of Horizontal and Low-Sloped Opaque Surfaces.” (SSc7.2)
ANSI/ASTM E779-03 “Standard Test Method for Determining Air Leakage Rate by Fan Pressurization.” (EQp2)
NOTE: you don’t necessarily have to waste your time with memorizing all of the crazy names for each of these, as far as the exam is concerned. Just know which ones go with which credit.
I hope this helps, and thanks – I’m sure others will find this useful too.
Good luck and let me know if you have any more questions. Cheers!
Thank you, so much.
Another excellent tip!
Are there any more synergy examples available elsewhere on this site or anywhere else?
Does anyone have a list of synergies for the credits?
Heather
What are the other study source I should study beside NC menu and USGBC’s website CIR/process…
Leeman
I second Brian….Does anyone have a list a synergies for the credits?
Hi,
Under good synergies for DAYLIGHT, it says “capture savings from reduced cooling loads and downsizing cooling equipment”. Can someone please explain how can you get reduced cooling from good daylight?
SYNERGIES LIST.
Here is what I have so far:
Synergy A—>B also means B—->A. Please understand that in some cases I just described A—–>B which was already a lot of work.
(! means MAJOR CREDIT SYNERGY)
(* means COMPLEX CREDIT SYNERGY)
– SSp1 with SSc5 and SSc6!
– SSc1 with SSc2 and SSc4 (and more)
– SSc2 with SSc1, SSc4’s, SSc8 (and more)
– SSc5.1 with SSc6!, SSc7!, WEc1! (and more)
– SSc5.2 with SSc5.1!, SSc6!, WEc1! (and more)
– SSc6.1 with SSp1!, SSc5!, SSc7!, WE’s! (and more)
– SSc6.2 with SSp1!, SSc5!, SSc7!, WE’s! (and more)
– SSc7.1 with SSc5, SSc6 and EAc1
– SSc7.2 with SSc6!, WE’s!, EAc1! (and more)
– SSc8 with EAp2, EAc1(op.1)! and EAc2
– WEc1 with SSc5, SSc6, SSc7, WE’s (and more)
– WEc2 with SSc6, WEc3 (and more)
– WEc3 with SSc6, WEc2 (and more)
– EAc2 with EAp2, EAc1(op.1)! and SSc8
– EAc5 with EAc1,EAp1 and EAc3
– EAc6 with EAc1 and EAc2
– MRc1 with MRc2*
– MRc2 with MRc1*
– MRc3 with MRc5
– MRc5 with MRc3
– MRc7 with IEQc4.4
– IEQc1 with EAp1, EAc1, EAc3, IEQp1, IEQc2 and IEQc6.2
– IEQc2 with EAp1*, EAc1*, EAc3*, IEQp1, IEQc2 and IEQc6.2
– IEQc3.1 with EAp1, EAc3, IEQc5
– IEQc3.2 with IEQp1, IEQc3.1, IEQc4’sand IEQc5
– IEQc5 with IEQc3, IEQp1, IEQc2 and IEQc6.2
– IEQc6.1 with EAc1*
– IEQc6.2 with EAc1*, IEQc7.1* and IEQc7.2*
– IEQc7.1 with EAc1 and IEQc6.2
– IEQc7.2 with EAc1, IEQc6.2 and IEQc7.1
We could work later on a revised list that will include:
Synergy A—>B AND B—->A for the picky ones. 😉
Hope this helps!
Franco, it seems that the link to http://www.sla-group.org you posted on here DOES NOT WORK. I tried sending u this list to your e-mail. 🙁
Thanks for posting the list! Extremely useful!
I dumped that link in lieu of http://www.sla-bangkok.com, and my study forums got axed. 🙁
Anyone needing a better understanding of synergies should def download the free Green Building Technical Manual. https://www.usgbc.org/Docs/SBTM/sbt.pdf (members only but you should already have an account right :P) While this does NOT discuss thresholds or LEED requirements, it will help clarify some of the more technical aspects on sustainable design.
To OmarGreen, Thanks. That ‘bridge’ what I need to memorize it. My test is on March 30.
Answer for Stefan :
electric lights make heat; more daylight = less lights = less heat = less need to cool.
re: vegetated roofs, the bad synergy is the significant load that soil imposes (if used) which will increase structural requirements such as amount of steel.
(glad I could contribute 2 cents worth that has not already been superbly covered on this site)
re: Parker’s mention of, and link to, the USGBC Technical Manual. Thanks for the link. I was able to download, though I don’t think I’m a USGBC “member” as I don’t work for a member company – which is a lousy arrangement if USGBC is really trying to disseminate info to help people understand good environmental practices.
which gets to my sincere thanks to Pat and this website –> it is definitely the BEST resource – and in the spirit of helping the environment, it’s terrific that this info here is free, rather than throwing up yet another expensive roadblock to doing the right thing.
Cheers to you.