I am working on a new university building project pursuing LEED v4 BD+C New Construction, and it includes a greenhouse. The greenhouse is a separate building from the main project building.
Does the greenhouse require a thermal comfort control?
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Emily Purcell
Sustainable Design LeadCannonDesign
LEEDuser Expert
318 thumbs up
July 29, 2022 - 9:15 am
The definition of regularly occupied is that at least one person spends at least one hour working/living in the space. If the greenhouse will function more like a storage area where people come in to do maintenance and retrieve plants but not stay long-term, it would not be regularly occupied.
(Occupancy aside, you can choose whether or not to include the greenhouse in the certification at all. See Minimum Program Requirement #2.)
If you DO include it and consider it regularly occupied, you could calculate the space for daylight/views but it doesn't make sense to design a greenhouse's temp/humidity for human comfort when its purpose is to grow plants! I believe you could successfully submit this credit with a narrative stating you've excluded the greenhouse from the thermal comfort calculation, but you may want to write to LEED Coach to get formal approval of that strategy before submitting.