Hi Tristan!
I dug deeper into the water category yesterday and a few questions surfaced:
•Water Metering credit – At least two out of six systems have to be sub metered as applicable to the project. If a building only has one of those systems, is it enough to sub meter that one or are you not eligible for the credit at all? In general an office building in Sweden has only cold water entering the building. Some of that water is then heated from the district energy system through a heat exchanger. That’s it! No irrigation, no process water (unless there’s a restaurant in the building), no reclaimed water etc. Where does district energy hot water fit in? I guess that would be considered the “Domestic hot water”? A sub meter on all hot water leaving the heat exchanger even if it was first metered as cold water entering the building?
•Outdoor Water Use Reduction credit – If you have green areas, even if it is just on rooftops of zero-lot-line projects, and have no irrigation (which is standard practice in Sweden), we achieve full credit? If you have no green areas then you are not eligible for the credit at all right (but you are ok in the prerequisite)?
•Indoor Water Use Reduction credit and prerequisite – The criteria for commercial kitchens is for Retail projects according to the guide. But if you have an office building with a commercial kitchen (in a restaurant on the bottom floor for example) it seems reasonable that the requirements should be taken into account here too or? Also in table 3 (in the credit) for commercial equipment such as dishwashers, we are required to have an Energy Star rating or equivalent. Problem is that when we compare Energy Star to our equipment, calculating water is not a problem (which is what this credit is focusing on) but looking at idle energy rates etc is a huge problem. We have a hard time getting this information from the supplier. We have a different way of stating energy here. We also do not have 110 V here, we have 230 V systems. Can’t remember my electricity from school too well but P=U*I, so energy rate could be different here maybe. In the prerequisite however the focus is on water usage only for commercial equipment.
Best regards Maria
Dylan Connelly
Mechanical EngineerIntegral Group
LEEDuser Expert
472 thumbs up
January 23, 2014 - 1:50 pm
We're running into something similar on the water metering. You could probably still measure how much hot water you're using - even though it comes from a district scale rather than a boiler.
Under process - it says dishwashers. I'm wondering if you have a dishwasher and no other process water - is metering that enough?
Edward Malesevich
Sustainability AdvisorTranswestern Sustainability Services
13 thumbs up
February 7, 2014 - 5:29 pm
Hi Maria,
I'll do my best to help answer your last two questions.
For outdoor water use reduction, you can achieve this credit by having landscape without an irrigation system. However, v4 allows projects with zero landscape to automatically earn this credit (see step 4 under Step-by-Step Guidance). This is a bit of a change from the previous version that required at least 5% of your site area to be landscape. This change will benefit a lot of urban/zero lot line projects.
For indoor water use reduction, the requirements for commercial equipment will only apply if you are submitting under the retail, hospitality, or schools v4 rating systems. If you are submitting under LEED v4 O+M: Existing Buildings, the criteria should not apply even if you have some of the specific spaces in the building. Also, process water sinks can generally be excluded from the calculations. According to the reference guide, commercial kitchen (food service) sinks and prep sinks, including pot filling sinks, wash-down, and cleaning sinks can all be excluded from calculations.
Maria Porter
Sustainability specialistSkanska Sweden
271 thumbs up
May 22, 2014 - 7:12 am
Hi Edward, thanks for responding!
I'm looking under step 4 in the Reference Guide. It says enter vegetated areas only, so I'm not sure what you mean. What if I have a zero-lot-line with no green area at all (not even the roof)?
And for indoor water use, I see that the Reference Guide talks about Retail projects only (registered under Retail). But I feel it would be wrong if you have the equipment in the building and you are not including it just because you have an office project (not registered under Retail).
Edward Malesevich
Sustainability AdvisorTranswestern Sustainability Services
13 thumbs up
May 22, 2014 - 8:51 am
Hi Maria,
I'll post the language from the reference guide. Projects that have no landscape or green area can earn the two points for not requiring an irrigation system. This is a little different than v2009 when the credit required at least 5% of the site to be landscape.
Step 4. Select one option (E)
Select the appropriate option for the project’s irrigation needs.
Option 1 is for projects that do not require irrigation, based on the location and landscape design. Projects that have no landscape area automatically earn this credit.
As for the process and appliance water equipment for indoor water use, I would agree that you should adhere to the requirements in the reference guide if the building contains retail or commercial kitchens. However, the documentation will most likely not be required if you are submitting under LEED v4 O+M: Existing Buildings. A reviewer can always request the documentation during the clarification process, so I would have the info available.