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Explore this LEED credit
Post your questions on this credit in the forum, and click on the credit language tab to review to the LEED requirements.
Credit language
© Copyright U.S. Green Building Council, Inc. All rights reserved.
Intent
To promote consideration of the prevention of airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2 through the air and/or other airborne diseases during the HVAC system design.
Requirements
#1a. Ventilation. When the building is occupied (any occupants including cleaning and facility personnel), the ventilation systems will provide required minimum amounts of outdoor air for ventilation per ASHRAE Standard 62.1-2016 or later.#1b. Filtration. The HVAC systems must use filters for recirculated air that perform at MERV 13 or above.
Alternative option
- #1.c. If 1b. cannot be met, design occupied spaces to achieve at least five clean air changes per hour. Use any combination of outside air, filtration, and air cleaning HEPA filtration to achieve the clean air change rate.
Note: Various tools are available for these calculations. For any tool used it is important to understand the underlying assumptions, and limitations of the calculations, and whether the tool has been peer reviewed.
Examples of tools:
Examples of tools:
- COVID-19 Airborne Transmission Tool by Professor Jose L. Jimenez
- Portable air cleaner calculator for schools by Harvard-CU Boulder
- happē Facility Infection Risk Estimator v2 by Branch Patterns
- COVID-19 Energy Estimator by Enverid
- Safe Air Spaces COVID-19 Aerosol Relative Risk Estimator by Dr. Richard Corsi and Dr. Kevin Van Den Wymelenberg
The COVID-19 (Coronavirus) outbreak is an ongoing, developing situation with a rapidly changing legal and regulatory landscape; the information and guidance provided in the LEED Safety First Pilot Credits may at any time not be current and USGBC does not guarantee the accuracy of the information. In preparing this guidance and its conclusions and recommendations, USGBC has tried to incorporate the best available information at the time the guidance was prepared. The results of future studies may require revisions to the recommendations in this guidance.
The recommendations included in the LEED Safety First Pilot Credits do not set a standard, nor should they be deemed either inclusive of all proper methods or exclusive of other methods for workplace reentry. The ultimate judgment regarding the utility of any specific approach and when it is safe to re-enter workspaces must be made by you in light of all circumstances and variables.
USGBC encourages projects teams and owners to monitor publicly available information and to always follow federal, state and local health organization guidance and government mandates. Where appropriate, you should seek the advice of an appropriate licensed professional or relevant government office in your location for advice on current laws and regulations.
The recommendations included in the LEED Safety First Pilot Credits do not set a standard, nor should they be deemed either inclusive of all proper methods or exclusive of other methods for workplace reentry. The ultimate judgment regarding the utility of any specific approach and when it is safe to re-enter workspaces must be made by you in light of all circumstances and variables.
USGBC encourages projects teams and owners to monitor publicly available information and to always follow federal, state and local health organization guidance and government mandates. Where appropriate, you should seek the advice of an appropriate licensed professional or relevant government office in your location for advice on current laws and regulations.
Submittals
General
Register for the pilot credit- Participate in the LEEDuser pilot credit forum
- Complete the feedback survey:
Documentation/Compliance
- Description of ventilation strategies implemented by the project
- Calculations for clean air changes per hour for occupied spaces.
- Copy of facilities requirements and operations and maintenance plan and updated commissioning plan communicating the purpose and intended performance of IAQ related building systems.
Changes
- 3.25.21 - Original Publication
- 1.26.23 - Updated with minor edits to title and requirements
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.
Intent
To promote consideration of the prevention of airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2 through the air and/or other airborne diseases during the HVAC system design.
Requirements
#1a. Ventilation. When the building is occupied (any occupants including cleaning and facility personnel), the ventilation systems will provide required minimum amounts of outdoor air for ventilation per ASHRAE Standard 62.1-2016 or later.#1b. Filtration. The HVAC systems must use filters for recirculated air that perform at MERV 13 or above.
Alternative option
- #1.c. If 1b. cannot be met, design occupied spaces to achieve at least five clean air changes per hour. Use any combination of outside air, filtration, and air cleaning HEPA filtration to achieve the clean air change rate.
Note: Various tools are available for these calculations. For any tool used it is important to understand the underlying assumptions, and limitations of the calculations, and whether the tool has been peer reviewed.
Examples of tools:
Examples of tools:
- COVID-19 Airborne Transmission Tool by Professor Jose L. Jimenez
- Portable air cleaner calculator for schools by Harvard-CU Boulder
- happē Facility Infection Risk Estimator v2 by Branch Patterns
- COVID-19 Energy Estimator by Enverid
- Safe Air Spaces COVID-19 Aerosol Relative Risk Estimator by Dr. Richard Corsi and Dr. Kevin Van Den Wymelenberg
The COVID-19 (Coronavirus) outbreak is an ongoing, developing situation with a rapidly changing legal and regulatory landscape; the information and guidance provided in the LEED Safety First Pilot Credits may at any time not be current and USGBC does not guarantee the accuracy of the information. In preparing this guidance and its conclusions and recommendations, USGBC has tried to incorporate the best available information at the time the guidance was prepared. The results of future studies may require revisions to the recommendations in this guidance.
The recommendations included in the LEED Safety First Pilot Credits do not set a standard, nor should they be deemed either inclusive of all proper methods or exclusive of other methods for workplace reentry. The ultimate judgment regarding the utility of any specific approach and when it is safe to re-enter workspaces must be made by you in light of all circumstances and variables.
USGBC encourages projects teams and owners to monitor publicly available information and to always follow federal, state and local health organization guidance and government mandates. Where appropriate, you should seek the advice of an appropriate licensed professional or relevant government office in your location for advice on current laws and regulations.
The recommendations included in the LEED Safety First Pilot Credits do not set a standard, nor should they be deemed either inclusive of all proper methods or exclusive of other methods for workplace reentry. The ultimate judgment regarding the utility of any specific approach and when it is safe to re-enter workspaces must be made by you in light of all circumstances and variables.
USGBC encourages projects teams and owners to monitor publicly available information and to always follow federal, state and local health organization guidance and government mandates. Where appropriate, you should seek the advice of an appropriate licensed professional or relevant government office in your location for advice on current laws and regulations.
Submittals
General
Register for the pilot credit- Participate in the LEEDuser pilot credit forum
- Complete the feedback survey:
Documentation/Compliance
- Description of ventilation strategies implemented by the project
- Calculations for clean air changes per hour for occupied spaces.
- Copy of facilities requirements and operations and maintenance plan and updated commissioning plan communicating the purpose and intended performance of IAQ related building systems.
Changes
- 3.25.21 - Original Publication
- 1.26.23 - Updated with minor edits to title and requirements
