On the first floor of our building we have restaurants that have their own HVAC system and maintain their own tempatures. The only thing we do is bill them their electricity. Can we exclude them from this credit as long as they are less than 10% of the buildign? They are not participating in our LEED pursuit.
Our building is 15 stories and is primarily office space and break rooms with microwave, sink and fridge in them. From the credit it appears that we only need 1 humidity sensor for each humidity zone... do we need humidity sensors in each office space and kitchen area or can it be a random sampling and if can be a random sampling how do we know what is enough? -
Finally, is it safe to assume restrooms without showers would be considered the same humidity zone as office space, but those with showers would need their own sensors.
Dan Ackerstein
PrincipalAckerstein Sustainability, LLC
LEEDuser Expert
819 thumbs up
January 11, 2011 - 11:13 am
Hello Wendy
- I certainly think you can exclude the restaurants if they are less than 10% of building square footage. They seem to fit the requirements for the exemption in every meaningful way.
- You are correct that EBOM requires only 1 sensor per humidity zone. However, rather than a random sampling, I would point to the language that encourages placing sensors in such a was so as to ensure they are 'representative of conditions'. This is not the most direct guidance, but I think it reflects the interest in placing sensors where they will give you the most relevant and useful information about humidity levels, as opposed to simply slapping one on a wall somewhere in the zone. Also, in terms of guiding the number of sensors, note that the Reference Guide acknowledges that the number of humidity sensors may be fewer than temperature sensors - this implicitly suggests that a guide to your starting point for the number of humidity sensors should be the number of temperature sensors. If those are somewhat consistent, I would think you're in good shape.
- I think that's a safe bet. Clearly a restroom with showers is in a class by itself. I assume that any restroom is likely to have higher general humidity levels than office space, but I would suspect the difference is marginal.
Hope that helps a little,
Dan