The program requirements for our project (a small office building) require photocopiers to be shared by staff members located in nearby open office spaces. In order to satisfy the principles of improving indoor air quality, this equipment has been located in two distinct and separate spaces with floor to ceiling partitions; however, these rooms do not have doors separating them from the occupied spaces. The rooms have been provided with dedicated exhaust, with registers located directly above the photocopiers and exhaust airflows at the prescribed rate. The flow of air is always from the office, through the photocopier room and then out of the building-there is no recirculation. We feel that the occupants are not being subjected to any more air-borne pollutants originating from the photocopiers than they otherwise would be if the photocopiers were in completely-enclosed rooms. As such we propose that these conditions meet the intent of the credit to \'avoid exposure of building occupants to potentially hazardous chemicals that adversely impact air quality.\'
The intent of this credit is to prevent occupant exposure to potentially hazardous chemicals that adversely impact air quality. The LEED requirements for copying and printing rooms are twofold. The first requirement is to provide segregated areas with deck-to-deck partitions. This requirement implies having doors in place. The second requirement dictates minimizing cross-contamination of pollutants which is addressed with a dedicated exhaust system (at a rate of least 0.50 cubic feet per minute per square foot), no air recirculation and maintaining a negative pressure of at least 7 PA (0.03 inches of water gauge), per LEED-NC v2.1. As mentioned above, this can be accomplished by physical separation of the space and maintaining negative pressure. Theoretically, this can be accomplished solely by maintaining negative pressure. To satisfy the overall intent of this credit using only this strategy, documentation must be provided that indicates a pressure difference of at least 7 PA (0.03 inches of water gauge) across any openings of these rooms at all times (including peak usage times). In a room containing a large opening with no door, exhausting more air from the room than is being supplied does not necessarily produce sufficient negative pressure. In addition, maintaining this pressure difference might be difficult depending on the size of the opening and internal pressures of nearby spaces, dictated by the building HVAC system(s), building pressures and stack effects. Installing a self-closing door is one example that would reduce the opening and make the pressure difference requirement easier to accomplish and maintain. Applicable internationally.