Hello-
I don't know if anyone has asked this question or not, it is a rather unique situation. Our project is a technical college and this particular building's academic programs revolve around teaching energy efficiency. Our mechanical room is designed such that students will not only have access, but will monitor the buildings systems and record changes. So in essence this room is both mechanical ( which usually not counted as regularly occupied) and laboratory (which would be considered regularly occupied). As with most mechanical rooms it has no day lighting. Wondering if this room would still be exempt or I should count 1/2 with a narrative?
Any thoughts on this?
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TODD REED
Energy Program SpecialistPA DMVA
LEEDuser Expert
889 thumbs up
April 3, 2015 - 8:21 am
I would say that it could still be exempt as long as the students just go in there, take the readings, and leave. Even if they go in there on a daily basis, they are only going in there for readings, so if that's the case, I would not worry about it. If you have the space laid out in a way that you are holding classes on a regular basis, then you are on a fine line. Now if the students go in there for say maybe one or two classes a semester, I would not worry about it.
I'm assuming with this type of project you will be going for green building education or the school as tool credit. So you will be discussing how the school is used to teach. As long you clarify in that documentation how they monitor the systems, you should be ok.