CI Lighting Compliance Exemption out of scope

You are only required to comply with requirements related to your scope of work.

My understanding is that the project space must meet the LPD requirement (10% below ASHRAE) to meet the prerequisite even if lighting is not included in the scope of work. This is - to the best of my knowledge - one of the few places where compliance is mandatory even for items not included in the project scope of work. (I'd love to be proven wrong here.) The LEED Online form specifically requires completion of a table for the LPD and states that a 10% or greater reduction is required to document compliance. The reference guide is unclear, but at the beginning of the implementation section it indicates that "If provisions of the base building are managed entirely by the Landlord (and thus cannot be changed by the building tenant) and do not meet the requirements of ASHRAE 90.1-2007, then only areas that are not part of the tenant scope of work and exclusively controlled by the Landlord are exempt from the requirements of the standard." As you indicate the issue is one of cost rather than control, it appears unlikely that this exemption could be successfully applied here.

I am not 100% certain that an exemption would be allowed by the reviewer but it does not make any sense to me that they would require compliance beyond the scope of work since that is the fundamental dividing line between CI and CS. I would argue it if they do. Contact GBCI through the contact me on the web site and ask them directly.