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Post your questions on this credit in the forum, and click on the credit language tab to review to the LEED requirements.
Credit language
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Requirements
For ALL medical equipment in the project, demonstrate that potable water use will be minimized for equipment cooling. Potable water usage is ONLY acceptable in emergency backup systems or where local requirements mandate. The following is required:
- No potable water use for once through cooling for ALL medical equipment that rejects heat. (Note: This credit does not apply to potable water for cooling tower makeup or for other evaporative cooling systems. Refer to WE Credit 4: Process Water Use Reduction for more details.)
- Where local requirements mandate limiting the discharge temperature of fluids into the drainage system, a tempering device must be used that runs water only when the equipment discharges hot water. Alternatively, provide a thermal recovery heat exchanger that allows drained discharge water to be cooled below code-required maximum discharge temperatures while simultaneously preheating inlet makeup water or, if the fluid is steam condensate, return it to the boiler.
- An owner may elect to use potable water in an open-loop (once-through) configuration as the emergency back-up cooling system only, not as the primary cooling system. The primary cooling system in these critical applications MUST be a closed-loop system requiring no potable water usage. Such emergency back-up systems shall only be used in the event that the primary, closed-loop cooling equipment has failed, and such a failure is visually and audibly indicated at the point-of-use and alarmed at a continuously monitored location.
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 »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.
© Copyright U.S. Green Building Council, Inc. All rights reserved.
Requirements
For ALL medical equipment in the project, demonstrate that potable water use will be minimized for equipment cooling. Potable water usage is ONLY acceptable in emergency backup systems or where local requirements mandate. The following is required:
- No potable water use for once through cooling for ALL medical equipment that rejects heat. (Note: This credit does not apply to potable water for cooling tower makeup or for other evaporative cooling systems. Refer to WE Credit 4: Process Water Use Reduction for more details.)
- Where local requirements mandate limiting the discharge temperature of fluids into the drainage system, a tempering device must be used that runs water only when the equipment discharges hot water. Alternatively, provide a thermal recovery heat exchanger that allows drained discharge water to be cooled below code-required maximum discharge temperatures while simultaneously preheating inlet makeup water or, if the fluid is steam condensate, return it to the boiler.
- An owner may elect to use potable water in an open-loop (once-through) configuration as the emergency back-up cooling system only, not as the primary cooling system. The primary cooling system in these critical applications MUST be a closed-loop system requiring no potable water usage. Such emergency back-up systems shall only be used in the event that the primary, closed-loop cooling equipment has failed, and such a failure is visually and audibly indicated at the point-of-use and alarmed at a continuously monitored location.
