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Our outside smoking area is located less than 25 feet from an emergency exit. Is this okay since that door is rarely (if ever) used?

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EBOM-2009 IEQp2:Environmental Tobacco Smoke (ETS) Control

Conflict with energy efficiency in extreme climate

We are optimizing a 4 storey residential building for certification under LEED EBOM (it is currently under construction) . Most residential units will have to allow smoking . My understanding is that in addition to pressurization , weather stripping of apartment doors and blower tests, this also means the ducting will have to be redesigned st all air from smoking appartments must be completely exhausted outdoors and 100% fresh air only must be supplied to apartment spaces. Is my understanding correct ? The issues here are not only ducting redesign, but the energy efficiency issues of using 100% fresh air for cooling for all these spaces as this is an extremely hot climate which will completely undermine building performance in EAC1 optimize energy performance . Any other suggestions or alternatives to save the project energy efficiency performance and meet the ETS prerequisite ?

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Profile picture for user bstanley
Ben Stanley
Senior Sustainability Manager
WSP - Built Ecology
LEEDuser Expert
188 thumbs up

Wed, 03/09/2016 - 16:25

Hi Ranya, How is the ventilation system currently designed? The smoking prerequisite doesn't prescribe a specific ventilation strategy and so you may have some options. But, since the prerequisite essentially prohibits air transfer from one unit to another, the ventilation system could not be designed in such a way that air from one residential unit would later end up in another.
Profile picture for user barry7
Barry Giles
Founder & CEO, LEED Fellow, BREEAM Fellow
BuildingWise LLC
LEEDuser Expert
224 thumbs up

Wed, 03/09/2016 - 16:56

Ranya. A brief question. If the building is being constructed from the ground up then EBOM is the wrong rating system to be using....you should be in BD&C.

Wed, 03/09/2016 - 20:13

Barry, the building is currently under construction, a number of BD+C prerequisites incl construction activity pollution prevention already voided as owner request for LEED certification came halfway through construction. Hence we decided best option to plan ahead and "optimize" building for EBOM. If only they had called us a year ago !

Wed, 03/09/2016 - 20:42

Thanks Ben, at the moment there are a number of apartments sharing a common return. Each apartment receives a mixture of fresh and recirculated return air. Note that at this point in time we can make some changes to the HVAC design . Would it be okay to recirculate the return air from the non smoking appartments throughout the building including the supply of the non-smoking apartments this would help solve the problem. What additional measures, if any in this scenario should be included to prevent cross-contamination ? Is there any way you know of where we can treat or clean the smoke-laden air ? Any other suggestions to solve our dilemma ? Thanks !
Profile picture for user bstanley
Ben Stanley
Senior Sustainability Manager
WSP - Built Ecology
LEEDuser Expert
188 thumbs up

Tue, 03/29/2016 - 16:11

Hi Ranya, I don't know the answer to your question 100%, but it doesn't seem like recirculating air back to a central AHU would work. Even if it was only recirculated air from non-smoking units, those units could change to smoking units at a later date. Treating the air somehow also wouldn't align with the prerequisite requirements. If you wanted to try that, it would require submitting a CIR.

Tue, 03/29/2016 - 20:27

Ben, Thanks, Another idea is to set up lease so smoking is on balconies only . Balcony doors would be weatherstripped and adjacent room positively pressurised (balcony would be treated as smoking room ) We would also have to conduct blower tests and ensure no intakes or operable windows within 25 ft of balconies, but the main thing is this implementation means we will not compromise on our energy efficiency targets which was the main concern.What do you think ? Aso, non-smoking units would not change over time to smoking. Would this help ?
Profile picture for user bstanley
Ben Stanley
Senior Sustainability Manager
WSP - Built Ecology
LEEDuser Expert
188 thumbs up

Tue, 03/29/2016 - 22:01

That might be possible if you could show that ETS transfer to other units would be minimized. Maybe you saw this related LEED interpretation http://www.usgbc.org/content/li-1957?

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