CI 2009 IEQc7.1 required documentation

Craig, can you be more specific about your documentation question? I guess the requirement seems pretty straightforward to me—it would be helpful to have your confusion or question clarified.

Craig, where are you seeing a requirement to use figure 5.3?If this is in LEED Online, double-check which option you have selected at the top of the form—natural or mechanical ventilation. The form will show different fields depending on what you have selected here.

Ah, I see. The fact that this is on the file uploads tab is important.I don't recall the specific instance, but I do recall seeing a case where the file uploads tab simply showed all the files that you MIGHT need to upload for this credit. It did not adjust itself based on the options selected on the form tab. I would think that they don't really mean to require this document. If you want to be sure, I would ask your CB or send a note to GBCI. If you get solid answer, please post it back here.

Craig, I agree the certification process can be frustrating and made confusing by ambiguous instructions in the credit requirements or LEEDOnline forms. With the explosion of interest in green building and market demand for LEED has come growing pains and missing links.

There's also an inherent dichotomy at work - between the times when you want to say "just tell me what to do" and the times when you want to say "don't tell me what to do." Earlier versions of LEED sometimes provided less specific guidance and relied on the design teams to use their professional judgement to interpret the credit intent and requirements, and then provide the documentation that they believed would be sufficient. The LEED Reviewer Preliminary Comments, similar to plan check comments, then ask for clarifications. To be sure, time, money and resources have been wasted figuring out what was need to document a credit.

So as the system gets more specific, it get more complicated, and imperfect forms and credit language has been rolled out. Hence the value of the quarterly addenda. For people used to codes and standards that have been refined over many versions and decades, this can be frustrating.

This forum has been able to fill a huge gap. With the CIR policy changed to not post publicly and the difficulty of getting specific answers from the CBs or GBCI, the user community has rallied here to share their experiences, insight, and feedback. In some cases, we've gotten "official" responses from GBCI, but not as often as we might like.

I think what can be challenging for many of us using LEED is figuring out when to make our best guess, when to ask a colleague or forum for their interpretation, when to ask for an official ruling, or when to assume a LEED form is in error, explain our assumptions and wait for the review comments to come back.

Hope that helps.

I am encountering an issue with this as well. However, my problem is already part of the preliminary comments. I have a mechanically ventilated space and the reviewer posted the following comment:

"...Provide supporting documentation as required, including...worst case design outdoor conditions and worst case predicted indoor conditions for each month..."

The reviewer has taken this directly from the file upload page and I am unsure of how to provide this calculation in a non-naturally conditioned space. I understand I can submit a written response as part of the re-submission but I would rahter not roll the dice and risk going to appeals since we have already been through the prelminiary review.

By my understanding of the credit, and the credit form, the monthly temperatures are only required to be submitted for naturally ventilated spaces.

I would:

1) make sure the box marked "The project building is naturally ventilated, in part or in whole." is not checked.
2) Upload a summary memo, explaining your response to the review comments. In this memo clearly state that the project is mechanically ventilated, and that the "worst case design outdoor conditions and worst case predicted indoor conditions for each month" are only required to be submitted for naturally ventilated spaces.

I am new at this site and I am also having problem with this credit. There is also another upload requirement that states "Upload supporting documentation with PMV/PPD calculation; ASHRAE comfort tool results; and/or psychometric comfort zone chart from Standard 55)." Is there specific software that needs to be utilized to calculate PMV/PPD? It would be a huge help if anybody can comment on this.

Depending on what you are trying to do you may not have to upload any of these.

Because I'm in a humid climate, I generally submit psychometric charts, to show how humidity control is being accomplished, especially at part load conditions.

I think, if you can show:
1) what the comfort zone is for your space type and use,
2) the range of thermal and humidity conditions, how they are achieved, and that they match the comfort zone,
and 3) that the air distribution has been designed so that excess air movement is not a factor,
then you should be all set.

There are a few software tools others have discussed here, and on the NC EQc7.1 page. I don't have firsthand experience with any of them, so I can't make a recommendation, except to say I get along fine without them.