Radon Potential Maps

Trudy Y. Smith

LEEDuser Basic Member

1 thumbs up

November 7, 2012

I agree with Jeff @ Tahoe that the EPA radon zone maps are so out of date and misleading that they should only be used as a last resort. Many municipalities, and states have much more current maps that are based on two decades of testing and are much better guides. All that needs to be emphasized is wording such as that below for a much more useful credit requirement. "SECTION 1201 RADON POTENTIAL ZONES 1201.1 EPA established zones. The radon potential of a building site shall be estimated from the United States environmental Protection Agency radon potential map as shown in Figure 1201.1 or from United States Environmental Protection Agency radon potential by county listing as shown in Table 1201.2. Where state or local jurisdictions have published radon potential data, such data shall supersede the information in Figure 1201.1 and Table 1201.2."

Post a reply

Jeff Miner

Radon At Tahoe

LEEDuser Basic Member

1 thumbs up

Thu, 11/08/2012 - 02:04

Trudy, Thanks for your comment. The radon map language you propose is consistent with the language in the AARST (American Association of Radon Scientists and Technologists) RRNC 2 recommendations. The EPA has no plans (and no resources!) to update their 1993 National Radon Map. That process has been taken over by state and local agencies for the past 20 years. The USGBC could certainly replace the current language relying only on the old EPA map with this language that says to use local radon maps if they exist. My question for the green building community is how to get the USGBC to actually do this?

Tristan Roberts

Representative

Vermont House of Representatives

LEEDuser Expert

7780 thumbs up

Thu, 11/08/2012 - 14:40

Jeff, this is the right forum to encourage USGBC to move in this direction. You are commenting as part of the 5th public comment period for LEED v4. USGBC considers comments like this in possible revisions to the rating system.