At the end of the option, add:Designated smoking areas may not be located in or proximate to places of respite used to meet the requirements of SS Credit 9.1: Connection to the Natural World
LEEDuser’s viewpoint
Frank advice from LEED experts
LEED is changing all the time, and every project is unique. Even seasoned professionals can miss a critical detail and lose a credit or even a prerequisite at the last minute. Our expert advice guides our LEEDuser Premium members and saves you valuable time.
Credit language
© Copyright U.S. Green Building Council, Inc. All rights reserved.
Requirements
Option 1
Prohibit smoking in the building.Prohibit on-property smoking within 50 feet (16 meters) of entries, outdoor air intakes, bus stops, qualifying places of respite, operable windows, and other locations where occupants could inadvertently come in contact with ETS when occupying, entering or leaving the building.Provide signage to allow smoking in designated areas, prohibit smoking in designated areas or prohibit smoking on the entire property.Designated smoking areas may not be located in or proximate to places of respite used to meet the requirements of SS Credit 9.1: Connection to the Natural World—Places of Respite or SS Credit 9.2: Connection to the Natural World—Direct Exterior Access for Patients.OR
Option 2For residential healthcare occupancies only where accommodation for resident smoking is programmatically mandated: Prohibit smoking in resident rooms and all common areas of the building.Locate any exterior designated smoking areas including balconies where smoking is permitted, at least 50 feet (16 meters) from entries, outdoor air intakes, bus stops, operable windows and other locations where occupants could inadvertently come in contact with ETS when occupying, entering or leaving the building. Provide signage to allow smoking in designated areas, prohibit smoking in designated areas, or prohibit smoking on the entire property. All exterior doors and operable windows in the residential units shall be gasketed to minimize leakage from outdoors. Provide designated smoking rooms as mandated by the functional program designed to effectively contain, capture and remove ETS from the building. At a minimum, the smoking room must be directly exhausted to the outdoors, away from air intakes and building entry paths, with no re-circulation of ETS-containing air to non-smoking areas, and enclosed with sealed deck-to-deck partitions. Operate exhaust sufficient to create a negative pressure differential with respect to the surrounding spaces of at least an average of 5 Pascals (Pa) (0.02 inches of water gauge) and a minimum of 1 Pa (0.004 inches of water gauge) when the door(s) to the smoking room are closed. Verify performance of the smoking room’s differential air pressures by conducting 15 minutes of measurement, with a minimum of one measurement every ten seconds, of the differential pressure in the smoking room with respect to each adjacent area and in each adjacent vertical chase with the doors to the smoking room closed. Conduct the testing with each space configured for worst case conditions of transport of air from the smoking room’s (with closed doors) to adjacent spaces. See all forum discussions about this credit »What does it cost?
Cost estimates for this credit
On each BD+C v4 credit, LEEDuser offers the wisdom of a team of architects, engineers, cost estimators, and LEED experts with hundreds of LEED projects between then. They analyzed the sustainable design strategies associated with each LEED credit, but also to assign actual costs to those strategies.
Our tab contains overall cost guidance, notes on what “soft costs” to expect, and a strategy-by-strategy breakdown of what to consider and what it might cost, in percentage premiums, actual costs, or both.
This information is also available in a full PDF download in The Cost of LEED v4 report.
Learn more about The Cost of LEED v4 »Frequently asked questions
See all forum discussions about this credit »Addenda
2/2/2011 – Updated: 2/14/2015
Rating System Correction
Description of change:
Campus Applicable
No
Internationally Applicable:
No
12/19/2007
LEED Interpretation
Inquiry:
The project is submitting under LEED-CI V2.0 for a tenant space renovation. The building that the tenant occupies is smoke free, except for a bar & restaurant. There was a recent city ordinance passed to ban smoking at all bars & restaurants by July 2008. The building management has also required this tenant to ban smoking by this date per city ordinance, making the building completely smoke free. Would a letter indicating future compliance by the tenant, along with documentation of the city ordinance fulfill the requirements of this prerequisite? Also, if the entrance to this building is on public property, and the current ordinance prohibits smoking only 15\' away from entrances, instead of 25\' as required per LEED, will the project still comply with the intent of the credit?
Ruling:
The CIR is inquiring whether proof of future compliance would be acceptable to meet the prerequisite and whether prohibiting smoking within 15 feet from entrances would meet the intent of the credit. Future compliance for this prerequisite would not meet the intent, which is to prevent or minimize exposure of tenant space occupants, indoor surfaces, and systems to Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS). If smoking in a space is allowed for an extended period of time, this extends the timeframe over which occupants, systems, and surfaces within these spaces will be exposed to ETS. Materials which absorb ETS will off-gas after the smoking itself ceases, further extending the exposure timeframe. Limiting smoking to 15 feet from entrances instead of 25 feet would not meet the credit requirement. The project should prohibit smoking within 25 feet from building entrances, to the extent possible, in order to meet the credit requirements. If the applicant does not have the authority to prohibit smoking within 25 feet of the entrance, signage should be posted requesting that people do not smoke within 25 feet of the entrance. Applicable Internationally.
Campus Applicable
No
Internationally Applicable:
Yes
7/2/2018
LEED Interpretation
Inquiry:
Inquiry:
Is the smoking of cannabis covered under the Environmental Tobacco Smoke Control prerequisite?
Ruling:
Yes, smoking of cannabis is considered a form of smoking for the purposes of both the interior and exterior smoking provisions of the LEED Prerequisite Environmental Tobacco Smoke Control.
Secondhand cannabis smoke has been shown to contain many of the same chemicals and carcinogens as secondhand tobacco smoke [1].
[1] Moir D, Rickert WS, Levasseur G, et al. A Comparison of Mainstream and Sidestream Marijuana and Tobacco Cigarette Smoke Produced under Two Machine Smoking Conditions. American Chemical Society. 2008;21:494-502.
Campus Applicable
Yes
Internationally Applicable:
Yes
4/14/2006
LEED Interpretation
Inquiry:
How are balconies to be addressed within the multi-unit residential compliance path presented by the 12/3/03 NCv2.1 CIR and NCv2.2 Option 3? And how are balconies treated within the option for prohibiting smoking? The credit requirements are not clear in this regard.
Ruling:
Any potential smoking outdoors must be addressed in regards to secondhand smoke exposure. Balconies are automatically considered smoking areas unless smoking on them is prohibited (by the building manager in the case of a leased apartment; by the initial HOA Rules and Regulations in the case of a condominium). For any compliance path, if a balcony does not comply with the requirements for exterior smoking areas (at least 25 feet away from entries, operable windows and outdoor air intakes), smoking must be prohibited on the balcony. LEED projects registered before September 4, 2006, will not be held to this interpretation, but are encouraged to do so. This ruling reflects the original intent of the IEQ Technical Advisory Group and is considered consistent with the non-residential compliance paths and with the mission of green building. The ruling is also considered reasonable because eighty percent of the U.S. population does not smoke.
Campus Applicable
No
Internationally Applicable:
No
7/1/2014
LEED Interpretation
Inquiry:
Are electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) covered under the Environmental Tobacco Smoke Control prerequisite?
Ruling:
Yes, electronic cigarettes are considered a form of smoking for the purposes of both the interior and exterior smoking provisions of the LEED Prerequisite Environmental Tobacco Smoke Control. As recommended in the December 2013 report[1] prepared for the World Health Organization, “e-cigarettes should be prohibited anywhere where the use of conventional cigarettes is prohibited”. The indoor air quality impacts from electronic cigarettes are not fully characterized, but there is sufficient evidence that electronic cigarettes produce emissions in fine aerosol form that can expose building occupants. For example, according to the report, “several chemicals that have been found in e-cigarette aerosol and e-liquid are on California’s official list of known human carcinogens or reproductive toxicants, including nicotine, acetaldehyde, formaldehyde, nickel, lead, toluene(1)”.
[1] Background Paper on E-cigarettes (Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems); Grana, R.; Benowitz, N.; Glantz, SA; December 2013; University of California
Campus Applicable
Yes
Internationally Applicable:
Yes
Documentation toolkit
The motherlode of cheat sheets
LEEDuser’s Documentation Toolkit is loaded with calculators to help assess credit compliance, tracking spreadsheets for materials, sample templates to help guide your narratives and LEED Online submissions, and examples of actual submissions from certified LEED projects for you to check your work against. To get your plaque, start with the right toolkit.
Get the inside scoop
Our editors have written a detailed analysis of nearly every LEED credit, and LEEDuser premium members get full access. We’ll tell you whether the credit is easy to accomplish or better left alone, and we provide insider tips on how to document it successfully.
© Copyright U.S. Green Building Council, Inc. All rights reserved.
Requirements
Option 1
Prohibit smoking in the building.Prohibit on-property smoking within 50 feet (16 meters) of entries, outdoor air intakes, bus stops, qualifying places of respite, operable windows, and other locations where occupants could inadvertently come in contact with ETS when occupying, entering or leaving the building.Provide signage to allow smoking in designated areas, prohibit smoking in designated areas or prohibit smoking on the entire property.Designated smoking areas may not be located in or proximate to places of respite used to meet the requirements of SS Credit 9.1: Connection to the Natural World—Places of Respite or SS Credit 9.2: Connection to the Natural World—Direct Exterior Access for Patients.OR
Option 2For residential healthcare occupancies only where accommodation for resident smoking is programmatically mandated: Prohibit smoking in resident rooms and all common areas of the building.Locate any exterior designated smoking areas including balconies where smoking is permitted, at least 50 feet (16 meters) from entries, outdoor air intakes, bus stops, operable windows and other locations where occupants could inadvertently come in contact with ETS when occupying, entering or leaving the building. Provide signage to allow smoking in designated areas, prohibit smoking in designated areas, or prohibit smoking on the entire property. All exterior doors and operable windows in the residential units shall be gasketed to minimize leakage from outdoors. Provide designated smoking rooms as mandated by the functional program designed to effectively contain, capture and remove ETS from the building. At a minimum, the smoking room must be directly exhausted to the outdoors, away from air intakes and building entry paths, with no re-circulation of ETS-containing air to non-smoking areas, and enclosed with sealed deck-to-deck partitions. Operate exhaust sufficient to create a negative pressure differential with respect to the surrounding spaces of at least an average of 5 Pascals (Pa) (0.02 inches of water gauge) and a minimum of 1 Pa (0.004 inches of water gauge) when the door(s) to the smoking room are closed. Verify performance of the smoking room’s differential air pressures by conducting 15 minutes of measurement, with a minimum of one measurement every ten seconds, of the differential pressure in the smoking room with respect to each adjacent area and in each adjacent vertical chase with the doors to the smoking room closed. Conduct the testing with each space configured for worst case conditions of transport of air from the smoking room’s (with closed doors) to adjacent spaces.