Hi, our project is considering a green wall with drip irrigation. How do you declare that? I'm thinking of adding a spread sheet describing the types of spaces (green roof, planters, vegetation on ground and green walls) describing the size of each, plant composition and which is considered for each credit (ie, the green wall would count towards water consumption in WEc1 but NOT count towards native vegetation or open space in SSc5.1 and SSc5.2). Am I on the right track? Thanks!!
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Kathryn West
LEED AP BD+C, O+M, Green Globes ProfessionalJLL
154 thumbs up
July 27, 2015 - 5:16 pm
You're definitely right regarding SSc5.1, per this LEED Interpretation #5385.
For WEc1 I'd think the evapotranspiration rate could be really high. I had a palette planter of herbs leaned up against my metal balcony and the water evaporated so fast.
I'm not sure that vertical vegetation would actually fall under the strict definition of "landscape area." The landscape area of the site is the total site area less the building footprint, paved surfaces, water bodies, areas being left in a natural state, and patios." ID#100000449
Paula Hernandez
MRS.MPH&H
84 thumbs up
July 27, 2015 - 5:28 pm
Thanks Kathryn! So, what do I do?Do I declare the consumption in WEc1? This wall is in a shaded area, so I'm not so afraid of ET, but of the overall water balance
Angela Fiorenza
LEED AP BD+C, LEED Project Reviewer, Senior LEED Specialist5 thumbs up
January 7, 2016 - 2:40 pm
Chiming in here Paula,
You may have already submitted this project, but in case you haven't, I wanted to confirm that you should include all landscaped areas on the outside of the building or on the project site in the WEc1 calculations, including the green walls. You may also want to mention in a narrative that the area is anticipated to be shaded to justify the ET value used. I hope this helps! Good luck to you.
Best Regards,
Angela Fiorenza
Julien Lafond
PresidentAltanova, LLC
4 thumbs up
January 27, 2016 - 12:26 pm
Hi Angela,
Glad to see your comment here. Have you gotten an exterior green wall approved as counting towards the minimum 5% landscaped area for WEc1? Did you need to submit a CIR for this? I ask because we have a project that will only meet this 5% minimum by including the exterior green wall area.
Thanks for your help,
Altanova
Angela Fiorenza
LEED AP BD+C, LEED Project Reviewer, Senior LEED Specialist5 thumbs up
January 28, 2016 - 12:32 pm
Julien (Altanova),
Good catch, my previous response wasn't entirely clear on that issue. I believe that the most appropriate way to calculate the vegetated wall area for the purposes of the WEc1 calculations is to base that value on the area of the planting beds that host the plants, and not on the wall area that is anticipated to be covered by the vegetation. I'm not aware of any formal guidance regarding this issue though, so a CIR may be appropriate to request confirmation.
Best,
Angela Fiorenza
Andrey Kuznetsov
ESG consultant, LEED AP BD+CSelf Employed
5 thumbs up
January 29, 2016 - 4:43 am
At one of the projects I counted only area that host a plants (horisontal) not the covered by plants green wall area (vertical).