This credit rewards projects that are able to minimize the impact of their refrigerants on the ozone layer and global warming. 

Generally, the buildings that are most likely to meet this intent are those with non-CFC central cooling systems, such as a chilled water plant, where the refrigerant charge is low and the equipment life is long. These conditions yield a lower value from the credit calculation and offset smaller refrigerant-containing equipment that would otherwise cause the project to fall out of compliance with the credit threshold. If your building is in this category, it may make sense to pursue the credit.

However, teams should be aware that beyond the question of whether your building may or may not qualify, there is often a significant burden to collect the required information for each piece of refrigerant-containing equipment.

There is no allowance to exclude supplemental AC units and similar equipment, outside of the general LEED-EBOM allowance to exclude up to 10% of the building floor area if it is under separate management control. So, multitenant buildings may find this credit particularly onerous, and even buildings that have access to the equipment will still spend a significant amount of time tracking down the data points required to complete the calculations.

What’s New in LEED v4

• Sector-specific requirements have been added for commercial refrigeration equipment.
• A default leakage rate of 2%, rather than a measured leakage rate, is required for the calculations.

Readiness Review Questions

• Do you keep records of all refrigerants used in base building systems?
• Does any of your HVAC equipment or fire suppression systems use CFCs, HCFCs or halons? 

• How efficiently does your base building equipment use refrigerants? Do you have a refrigerant management program in place to minimize leakage?