The UCS suite is located on the 8th floor of a 12 story building in downtown Washington, DC. The building was built in the 1960\'s. This suite covers the entire floor of the building. The types of spaces in the suite consist of offices, open offices, conference room, meeting rooms, lunch room, pantry, lan room, storage and copy rooms. There are four meeting rooms and a conference room (room 876) in this suite. The meeting rooms are located along the perimeter of the suite and are being served by a separate exterior zone 100% outside air system. The conference room is located in the interior and is served by air-handlers in the penthouse which provide 25% outside air to the interior zones. These air-handlers serve other floors in the building also. This conference room is a critical space and currently does not meet the ASHRAE 62.1-2004 standard. The total outside air being provided to the suite is 6313 CFM. The total occupancy for the suite will be 85 people. Thus, we are supplying 74 CFM per person for the entire suite. For each space, the amount of outside air that we are providing is over 30% above the ASHRAE 62.1-2004 standard, except the conference room. Per ASHRAE 62.1-2004, we are 36% below the amount of ventilation air that is required for the conference room. This conference room is existing, with an area of 480 SF and occupancy of 24 people. 600 CFM of supply air was provided to this space under the existing design. Since the room did not change under the new design, the quantity of air was kept the same. The space will not be used for more than two to three hours at a time. Per local codes we are allowed to use a transfer fan and provide the extra air from adjacent office space to meet the ventilation requirements. We have the following questions: 1) Given the high amount of outside air for the rest of the suite, does USGBC accept the supply air quantity for the conference room for the minimum IAQ performance pre-requisite and increased ventilation credit? 2) If we need to increase the supply air quantity, how much do we need to increase it by, given that main air-handler provides 25% OA? 3) Does USGBC allow the use of a transfer fan to provide additional supply air to the space? 4) Are there other options that the owner can consider to achieve the increased ventilation credit?
The CIR is requesting guidance on the exemption of or treatment of a conference room space in regards to the minimum ventilation requirements of EQ Pr1, and the requirements of EQ Cr2. All occupiable spaces are required to meet the minimum ventilation rates to satisfy this prerequisite, including the conference room. From our review of the information presented, it appears that the project team has misunderstood the application of the ASHRAE 62.1-2004 Ventilation rate procedure calculations. Please recheck your ventilation calculations, and if necessary, consult the ASHRAE 62.1 User\'s Manual for more information. As a result, the answers to your questions are as follows: 1) All occupiable spaces are required to meet ASHRAE 62.1-2004 to meet EQPr1. All spaces are required to show a breathing zone ventilation rate at least 30% above ASHRAE 62.1-2004 to achieve EQ Cr2. The submitted information is not sufficient to show compliance with either of these requirements. 2) This is a design question for the project team and not related to credit interpretation. Your ASHRAE 62.1 calculation should indicate this number. 3) Use of a transfer fan is an acceptable means of complying with the ventilation rate requirements, assuming that both spaces are re-calculated such that the same quantity of air is not double-counted. That data must be properly accounted for using Appendix A in ASHRAE Standard 62.1. 4) EQ C2 allows an alternate approach for naturally ventilated spaces. In addition there are many ways in which the ventilation system might be adjusted or modified to meet the credit requirements. This is a design question for the project team and not related to credit interpretation. Applicable Internationally.