Date
Inquiry

The office wing of this educational building will have a 250 sf copy/ file storage room on each floor, physically isolated from the rest of the space as the Credit requires. The copier takes up only a portion of the space (the file cabinets taking up the remainder) and as such our first question is this: Can we comply with the "separate outside exhaust" portion of this Credit by exhausting only the area around the copier itself or must the exhaust serve the entire room? We propose exhausting 75 cfm directly above the copier itself, which at 0.50 cfm/ sf will serve 150 sf, an area much larger than the copier area itself. Secondly, we are concerned about the new LEED 2.1 requirement of "a negative pressure of at least 7 PA (0.03 inches of water gauge)". We typically design laboratories and hospital isolation rooms to 0.001 inches of water gauge. Compared with this, 0.03 seems excessive, particularly when we are addressing the needs of a copy room. To achieve 0.03 inches of water gauge, the air flow through the door would need to be 700 ft/ minute, which is very high. Lastly, it is our understanding that copiers and printers manufactured today do not emit nearly as much particulate pollution as older machines. As such, we wonder if the entire requirement should not be rethought as it applies to copy/ print rooms.

Ruling

The proposed ventilation strategy will not meet the requirements of this credit under LEED Version 2.1. The exhaust system for the copy/storage room needs to meet the flow requirements based on room size. LEED v2.1 has adopted specific negative pressure requirements that must be met. The project team may choose to comply with LEED Version 2.0 if preferred (mixed submittals are permissible). In that case, the proposed strategy is acceptable as long as the room does not contain a return vent to the HVAC system. The presence of an HVAC supply duct is permissible as long as the room retains negative pressure. Data on new copier performance will not lead to the elimination of this LEED requirement within a CIR. Your comments will be submitted to the IEQ subcommittee for consideration in developing the next version of LEED. Contaminants other than particulates must also be considered.

Internationally Applicable
Off
Campus Applicable
Off