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Credit language
Requirements
Establishment
For cooling towers and evaporative condensers, conduct a potable water analysis within five years of submission for certification, measuring at least the five control parameters listed in Table 1.
Table 1. Maximum concentrations for parameters in condenser water
| Parameter |
Maximum level |
| Ca (as CaCO3) |
1,000 ppm |
| Total alkalinity |
1,000 ppm |
| SiO2 |
100 ppm |
| Cl- |
250 ppm |
| Conductivity |
2000 µS/cm |
ppm = parts per million
µS/cm = micro siemens per centimeter
Calculate the number of cooling tower cycles by dividing the maximum allowed concentration level of each parameter by the actual concentration level of each parameter found in the potable
makeup water. Limit cooling tower cycles to avoid exceeding maximum values for any of these parameters.
Table 2. Points for cooling tower cycles
| Cooling tower cycles |
Points (except data centers) |
Points (data centers) |
| Maximum number of cycles achieved without exceeding any filtration levels or affecting operation of condenser water system (up to maximum of 10 cycles) |
2 |
2 |
Achieve a minimum 10 cycles by increasing the level of treatment in condenser or make-up water
OR
Achieve the number of cycles for 1 point and use a minimum 20% recycled nonpotable water |
3 |
4 |
Performance
None
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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.
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Addenda
7/1/2015 – Updated: 7/1/2015
Reference Guide Correction
Description of change: Edit the guidance to read:
"Group Approach
All buildings in the group project may be documented as one as long as all buildings in the group are served by the same cooling tower(s). If different buildings in the group are served by different cooling towers, submit this credit separately for each building in the group.
Campus Approach
Eligible. All buildings must use the same cooling tower."
Internationally Applicable: Yes
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