If in the school kitchen there is a dishwasher with the required performance and no one of the other 4 water consuming equipments listed in the requirement, together with the compliance to the other requirements, can we get the credit?
The best "process water use reduction" is no-use at all process water, isn't it?
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Andrea Traber
Director, Sustainable Buildings and OperationsKEMA
62 thumbs up
January 29, 2010 - 4:00 pm
Excellent question. As you point out the best reduction of resource use is no use of resources.
Per the LEED Schools reference guide, this credit calls for using 4 process water items at established industry standard or lower which is quite definitive. Most often such definitive criteria in LEED dictates a very clear interpretation.
However, there is also precedent with other LEED credits such as EAc4, Enhanced Refrigerant Management, where credit is achieved if no refrigerants are used because there is no environmental impact—same concept. Your question has identified a "grey" zone and needs to be interpreted for intent.
I first recommend determining whether you have any additional process water uses in your project that are NOT on the list in WEc4. If you do have any additional uses not on the list, and can document that the rate for the items you are specifiying is 20% or below the industry standard, these items can count toward the 4 of 5 required items.
If you do not have any additional water process uses and you are able to demonstrate that by project program and goals your team consciously chose not to introduce process water elements to reduce impacts, your approach may satisfy the intent of this credit. To determine this definitively, you need to pursue an interpretation through your LEED Review Team, who is assigned when you register your project. (The former process for credit interpretations was through a Credit Interpretation Request, however, this is no longer available with LEED 2009).
Good luck and be sure to post your LEED Review Team’s response on LEED User so we can all learn from your experience.