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EBOM-2009 SSc4:Alternative Commuting Transportation

Fuel efficient car vs single occupancy and 2-person carpool

One commuter drove a Civic hybrid each day to work (10 trips under fuel-efficient car). Two of those days he carpooled (4 trips under 2 person carpool) and three of those days he rode by himself (6 trips under single occupancy). My total max theoretical trips is 250 but with the hybrid figured in, I have 260 data entries and am getting a warning message in the table. How do I count the hybrid car AND the carpooling?

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Thu, 07/14/2011 - 18:08

Hello Andrea, That's really a tough one! I suppose a person who carpooled in a LEFE vehicle should respond only that he used the LEFE vehicle, and not that he carpooled. Think about it: on each day in which they carpooled together, for those 2 people, zero conventional vehicles were used. Therefore, 4 conventional trips were avoided on that day, right? Equivalent to both declaring that they used low-emitting vehicles. But I'm not quite sure exactly what the SCAQMD methodology says about this one, though, so I'd wait for some more insights to be sure.

Fri, 07/15/2011 - 16:22

My thought was that much like some of the MR credits, two sustainable aspects are counted for each of their merits. If I have food that is both organic and local, I get credit for both. In the transportation credit, if I have carpooling and a fuel-efficient vehicle, it should count twice. Any thoughts?
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Dan Ackerstein
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Ackerstein Sustainability, LLC
LEEDuser Expert
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Sat, 07/16/2011 - 03:47

Boy Andrea, you are my nominee for 'Question of the Year' at the LEEDUser awards. I've been turning this one over in my head and I'm really not sure what the right answer is. This is a really rare situation, and its hard for me to imagine that the outcome will drastically affect your numbers, but in a small building, it very well could. I think your argument about the organic and local analogy is a valid one; at the same time, I'm not sure its sensible to conceive that one persons exceptionally green commute could somehow compensate for someone else's conventional commute (effectively the case if your hybrid-poolers travel was counted as two non-CSOV commutes). I think ultimately, this is a call the GBCI will have to make - I would run your calculations both ways and submit both tables and a narrative that explains your conundrum and why the outcome matters. I suspect that ultimately GBCI will agree with your logic and the quasi-precedent set by MR, but its a toss-up. Let us know what happens! Dan

Tue, 09/20/2011 - 15:09

Here's what the review team said.... Note that trips to the building in low emitting and fuel efficient vehicles can be accounted entirely as alternative commutes, and the number of carpool passengers in the vehicle does not need to be counted. Thoughts?

Thu, 11/08/2012 - 18:52

Hi Andrea, Thanks for posting this question...good to know!

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