Residential, Option 3

Erin Nuckols

Sustainable Building Associate

Institute for the Built Environment

LEEDuser Basic Member

3 thumbs up

May 31, 2012

We are working on a project that is a university Residence Hall on campus. I have found it difficult to find information on how to design a survey for alternative commuting for residential structures. I realize this is a unique situation, but we are interested in earning points for this credit. Any suggestions?

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Dan Ackerstein

Principal

Ackerstein Sustainability, LLC

LEEDuser Expert

545 thumbs up

Thu, 05/31/2012 - 21:45

Erin - That's a question I would definitely recommend taking to GBCI in some form or fashion. I have heard rumblings from GBCI that they are not comfortable with residence halls assuming a baseline of 100% conventional vehicle use from which to assess reductions. There are differing opinions on how on-campus residence halls should be treated in SSc4; one school of thought is that by being on campus they effectively reduce commuting trips to zero (or near-zero) and are thus the height of good urban planning. The other school of thought is that we should be comparing dorms to dorms, not dorms to office buildings, and therefore use a different methodology to assign points. As far as I know, there is not yet anything public or firm on this debate - perhaps you can make your voice heard on the matter. Dan

Erin Nuckols

Sustainable Building Associate

Institute for the Built Environment

LEEDuser Basic Member

3 thumbs up

Mon, 06/04/2012 - 17:12

Thank you Dan. We are going to contact GBCI on the matter. I will be happy to share any information they provide.