It is unclear to me what exactly qualifies a piece of equipment as a environmentally preferable. Does it have to meet all the BMPs listed in the chart above? For example does snow blower need to be electric plus less then 70 decibels? Or would it count if it was electric, but 75 decibels?
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Jenny Carney
Vice PresidentWSP
LEEDuser Expert
657 thumbs up
February 28, 2013 - 12:15 pm
In my experience, generally equipment that is electric-powered is considered to be compliant. In my experience, you might run into problems if they only environmental feature is the low decibel quality, but being electric or electric plus low-decibel should both work fine.
cathy keagle
17 thumbs up
October 12, 2016 - 4:04 pm
noise and emissions controls
Our reviewer has asked for noise control levels to be set by a maximum db level. Does anyone know if there is a specific limit for this? Also the reviewer has asked for specific emissions control limits. Other than CARB are there any recommended limits to follow
Kimberly Schlaepfer
Sustainability Coordinator LEED AP O+M, BD+C75 thumbs up
February 13, 2017 - 2:42 pm
Hi Cathy,
GBCI does not have any published guidance on db levels or on specific emissions control limits that projects must adhere to. The general guidance that GBCI provides is to demonstrate the site maintenance equipment performs better in terms of noise levels and emissions, than standard practice.
CARB is a good standard to use as their emissions limits are stricter than EPA recommended emissions limits for site maintenance equipment. Other than this reference, there are a few resources online that point to best practices for site maintenance equipment in terms of db level and emissions standard. For example, the following document has db level requirements listed on page 151.
https://www.documents.dgs.ca.gov/green/bpm-bbmbt.pdf
I think the intent behind the reviewer comment is to ensure there are set standards the equipment is meeting to ensure it is environmentally preferred. I do not think there is a specific db level or emissions control limit that is required, however, whatever is levels are specified in the plan must be able to demonstrate they produce a lower environmental impact than standard practice.
I hope this helps!