Hello,
We got a reviewer comment saying "Provide a revised plan demonstrating that the cleaning products used on the building exterior and hardscape meet the requirements of IEQc3.3. Note that compliant practices must be used at least 20% of the time."
We have a problem of finding cleaning products that meets with requirements of IEQc3.3 and therefore we did not apply for IEQc3.3. But according this comment it seems even though we do not apply for IEQc3.3 we still have to meet that requirement in order to get SSc2. Is this correct?
During the performance period we only used products that are deemed environmentally friendly and deemed biodegradable by the manufacturer. Even though these products does not have the certifications required for IEQc3.3 (and since we are not applying for that credit anyway) I think that should be good enough for us to apply for SSc2.
Am I not correct here?
Thank you!
Trista Brown
Project DirectorWSP USA
456 thumbs up
October 30, 2013 - 3:09 pm
Hi Magda,
The SSc2 cleaning products requirement applies whether a team pursues IEQc3.3 or not, so you’ll need to demonstrate the 20% compliance to earn SSc2.
Magda Aghababyan
CEOCo-Energi (Pvt) Ltd.
15 thumbs up
December 1, 2013 - 10:53 pm
Ok, understood. Thank you. So is this 20% based on cost of cleaning products? LEED online states "20% of the time". This is ambiguous for me because I don't know whether it means all cleaning activities should use certified cleaning products 20% of the time?
Suppose we decide to use a certified product 100% of the time for one particular cleaning activity and not certified products for other cleaning activities. If we can show certified cleaning products cover 20% of the total cost at minimum, is this sufficient to meet the credit requirements?
Trista Brown
Project DirectorWSP USA
456 thumbs up
December 1, 2013 - 11:03 pm
You got it - you can look at all cleaning activities covered by this credit together. And you're also right that cost is usually the best metric for showing compliance with this credit, although you are also allowed to use volume.
Andrew Tse
LEED Project EngineerLilker EMO Energy Solutions
2 thumbs up
October 21, 2014 - 2:25 pm
But cost and volume aren't adequate for assigning value to total avoidance of cleaning solutions, such as cleaning windows with water only. Cost and volume are only rough proxies for performance measurement, anyway. Lumping an amount of metal cleaner with window cleaner is an apples to oranges comparison. "Hours of activity" could be another rough measure in my opinion (I haven't see guidance dictating only cost or volume). The variability here should be reason enough to allow for qualitative assessment of compliance %. Is that approach consistent with LEED reviews?