This is a performance-based prerequisite that must be documented through the Arc platform. There are two parts to the prerequisite—an occupant satisfaction survey and indoor air quality testing. These components roll up into a single “human experience” score.
Assess Occupant Satisfaction
A ready-to-send occupant survey is provided on the Arc platform for registered projects. The survey can be emailed directly to regular building occupants for quick completion online. Projects must complete at least one survey every 365 days, and it can be conducted at any time in the year.
Teams that prefer to catch occupants in the lobby have the option to switch the survey to “lobby mode” on Arc. This mode will activate the survey for “in person” administration on a single device or multiple devices that can be used from the lobby.
Survey the Right Building Users
The occupant satisfaction survey must be given to regular building occupants. Examples are employees or staff, volunteers who regularly use the building, residents (including residents of a dormitory), primary and secondary school students, hotel guests, and inpatients. Visitors are encouraged (but not required) to be surveyed, especially if the daily average is greater than the number of regular building occupants. Examples of visitors are retail customers, outpatients, volunteers, and higher-education students.
Scoring the Occupant Survey
Arc calculates your project's occupant satisfaction score by looking at the average of the satisfaction levels received in survey responses and considering the variance in the responses. The LEED v4.1 O+M Beta Guide includes further details.
Indoor Air Quality Testing
Teams must complete indoor air quality testing for carbon dioxide (CO2) and total volatile organic compounds (TVOC) at a minimum. While you can choose to test other contaminants—the LEED v4.1 O+M Beta Guide includes a list of options—only the CO2 and TVOC measurements are used to calculate your project’s overall human experience score. Projects that test for two additional contaminants are eligible for a point under the Innovation credit.
Projects must complete CO2 and TVOC testing at least once every 365 days. Project teams can use measurements from installed sensors or complete one-time air testing. Check out the LEED v4.1 O+M Beta Guide for details on how Arc scores your CO2 and TVOC measurements.
Air Testing Locations
Determining the number of testing locations for a project can be tricky, since the LEED v4.1 O+M Beta Guide does not specify a minimum number of testing locations. The guidance provides some flexibility in this regard by stating that indoor air measurements should be taken “in locations representative of all occupied spaces.” At a minimum, teams should include a testing location on each floor of the building. Additionally, provide a narrative explaining how test locations were determined, time and dates testing was performed, and floor plans highlighting test locations.
A Prerequisite with Points
A minimum performance score of 40 must be achieved to earn this prerequisite. Your project will receive 8 LEED points for reaching this threshold. Additional points (up to 20) are achieved as your performance score increases.
Performance Scoring
The overall human experience score for this prerequisite is calculated based on three components (or “sub-scores”)—an occupant satisfaction score, a CO2 score, and a TVOC score. The occupant satisfaction score is weighted at 50% of the overall score. The CO2 and TVOC scores are each weighted at 25% of the overall score. Check out the LEED v4.1 O+M Beta Guide for more details on how human experience is scored in v4.1.
What’s New in LEED v4.1
- This is a new prerequisite that assesses occupant satisfaction and indoor air quality performance.
- Both occupant satisfaction and indoor air quality are assessed together with a single performance score.
- Everything in this prerequisite is calculated by the Arc platform.
Should I upgrade?
This new prerequisite doesn’t clearly map back to the v4 rating system. Plus, the requirements for completing both air quality testing and an occupant survey are much more onerous than any one EQ credit under v4. If your team is hesitant to do testing or a survey, the v4.1 rating system may not be right for you, as those are both now required under this prerequisite.
