News on Bird Collisions, Designing with Nature, and More: The July 2022 Addenda

This quarter’s LEED Addenda were released on Monday, August 1. Outside minor corrections to rating system and reference guide language, here are a few highlights.

Demand Response, plus Daylight for warehouses

• LEED Interpretation 10468, which allowed net zero and off-grid projects to pursue the Demand Response credit’s 2 points without enrolling in a program was clarified: qualifying projects have to achieve 100% annual energy demand with on-site renewables to qualify.
• New LEED Interpretation 10501 allows glare-control devices to be excluded for warehouse clerestory windows

Lots of changes to the Pilot Credit Library

• Four pilot credits were moved from the Pilot Credit Library to the Innovation Catalog. Since a LEED project can pursue five points under Innovation in Design only if one of the points is a pilot credit, these changes are worth noting. Credits moved include the popular Bird Collision Deterrence, and Designing with Nature, Biophilic Design for Indoor Environment. Note that as of the writing of this post, not all moved credits are appearing in the correct search in the LEED Credit Library on usgbc.org.
• Nine pilot credits were closed. Most have been formalized into a credit or alternative compliance path (ACP), while others are no longer needed because LEED 2009 is officially retired. For example, the Whole Building Life Cycle Assessment pilot credit was the first iteration of embodied impact in LEED at the beginning of LEED v4 development in 2010. It is now a credit in LEED v4 and v4.1. Another example is Daylight for Nordic Projects, which has become a regional ACP. One noted closure is the Performance-based Indoor Air Quality Design and Assessment, which is similar to the performance testing required for WELL Certification.
• Eleven Pilot Credit were updated. Updates included minor changes like credit name, applicable rating systems, or technical guidance, but there were also larger changes, like threshold requirements for Daylight in Non-regularly Occupied spaces or Heat Island Mitigation with Cool Walls.