Integrative Process, Planning & Assessments

Credit: Operational Planning and Response for Resilience

The credit states to 'address the most impactful hazards identified in Prerequisite: Operations Assessment: Climate Action, Quality of Life, and Ecological Conservation and Restoration'. While the prerequisite addresses several elements, it is not clear which ones need to be considered hazardous and included in an Emergency Response Plan. We believe that the only hazard listed, and one that could likely be part of an Emergency Response Plan, is the Climate Resilience element.

Location and Transportation

Credit: Sustainable Transportation Performance – Option 2, path 2

There is very little incentive for a project to get EV Stations unless they already have them. Very few points are awarded for the large amount required.

Sustainable Sites

Credit: Light Pollution and Bird Collision Reduction

Project teams can obtain up to 1 point for this credit, with three options for compliance. One of the requirements of Option 3. Bird Collision Deterrence states: “Shield all exterior fixtures (where the sum of the mean lamp lumens for that fixture exceeds 2,500) such that the installed fixtures do not directly emit any light at a vertical angle more than 90 degrees from straight down.”, which is the same language used for Option 1. Fixture Shielding.

Project teams do not have any incentive to pursue Option 3, since they can just adhere to Option 1 to get the credit’s 1 point. We believe Option 3 should grant more points than Option 1 and 2.

Water Efficiency

It is nice to see the baseline is now based on space type rather than occupant head counts and that there are more incentives and reward for water conservation.

Energy and Atmosphere

Pre-requisite: Energy, Carbon, and Operations Foundations

Understanding there is an emphasis on decarbonization under LEED v5, the ENERGY STAR score requirement of 60 points or higher is an established metric for energy efficiency, which translates to lower carbon footprint. However, making this a pre-requisite seems to exclude some sustainable buildings from obtaining LEED with lower ENERGY STAR scores that may not be energy inefficient and additionally excelling in other areas such as water, waste, IEQ, and innovation.

Credit: Decarbonization and Efficiency Plans.

An ASHRAE Level 2 audit is required as part of Option 1, but an ASHRAE Level 1 is not required anymore as it was in v4.1. We believe that an ASHRAE Level 1 should still be required as part of a prerequisite for very low performance buildings.

Materials and Resources

The Material Purchasing Policy and the Facility Maintenance and Renovation Policy, addressed in LEED O+M v4.1, should still be considered as prerequisites for v5. This can ensures that projects continue to have a significant positive impact on sustainability efforts, as these policies are tied to reducing carbon emissions, which aligns with one of the main goals of this new version.

Indoor Environmental Quality

Prerequisite: Verification of Ventilation and Filtration

For mechanically ventilated spaces, the prerequisite states that project teams must “calculate the minimum amount of outdoor air required by ASHRAE 62.1-2022 or later.”. However, it also states that “compliance with minimum outdoor rates is highly encouraged but not required for this prerequisite.”

Minimum outdoor rates must be required by the prerequisite, in order to facilitate a higher performance on indoor air quality.

For naturally ventilated spaces, the prerequisite lists several actions to guarantee the workability of openings. However, unlike v4.1, there is no criteria listed for minimum open area for a given space. We believe this must be included to ensure that openings are sufficient to ventilate these spaces.

Credit: Indoor Air Quality Performance

Option 1. Measure Indoor Air intents for project teams to demonstrate indoor air quality performance through measured indicators. However, it is not clear how many measuring points, spaces of interest, readings per square footage or a minimum of reading points should be used in order to show that the projects have good indoor air quality.

Platinum requirements

Solely focused on energy and decarbonization has really diminished the importance of waste and water. A Platinum building should really encompass excelling qualities from ALL of these aspects of sustainability.