Use standard private office scenario as default

Good point Tom, I agree. At the time the proposed credit was written there was significant pushback from the insulation industry during the revision of CA 01350 from the 2004 to the 2010 version, which called into question the loading of walls to airflow in the private office scenario (as well as the proposed 01350 residential scenario). At about the same time, the ANSI/ASHRAE/USGBC/IES 189.1 standard was released and it did not distinguish between the private office and classroom scenario (which of course makes the easier classroom scenario the default). In part to be consistent with ASHRAE 189.1, and in part due to the industry pushback, the school classroom scenario was made the default in the proposed credit.

Since that time I believe the ASHRAE 189.1 standard has been updated to require the private office scenario for compliance, although I think this has not been publicly released yet. I expect this issue of whether to use the 01350 classroom or the 01350 private office as a default will receive additional attention following this public comment period.

Private office also is much closer to the European Reference Room, used as default and only model scenario in most European low VOC programs. The European Reference Room is just a bit more conservative as assumption because it assumes lower ventilation with similar room dimensions than CA 01350 private office.