For a new 312,000 sf building seeking both LEED CS and LEED CI certifications we plan to comply with the requirements of LEED CI EQ Cr 6.1 to provide lighting controls for both individual and group occupants. We believe however that providing task lights for approximately 1800 employees in workstations when they may not be needed contradicts our sustainability goals. These fixtures, if not needed, only add to the project\'s overall embodied energy and environmental impact. The design team has been very aggressive in providing a task oriented lighting scheme that is efficient and beautiful. The design places direct/indirect fixtures with a large percentage of down light directly over the primary work surfaces to provide optimal foot-candles where they are needed. Of the 1870 employees in the building, 97% of them will be in workstations with partitions at 42". Because of the low partitions, the only option for providing lighting control is a movable task light. The owner has chosen an LED task light. In order to meet the projects overall sustainability goals while meeting the intent of the credit we propose surveying occupants prior to occupancy as to whether they will want a task light. Those who responded in the affirmative will have a task light upon occupancy. The owner will conduct a post occupancy survey to see if additional employees require a task light or don\'t need the one they have. At any point an employee will be able to request a task light. If 100% of employees request a task light the owner will provide them. Providing the task light as an option gives users the ability to control lighting levels while meeting the owner and LEED\'s overall sustainability goals. Please verify that surveying employees pre-and post-occupancy about task lighting preferences and then providing task lights only to employees in open office areas who desire them meets the requirements of LEED CI EQ Cr 6.1.
The inquiry is stating the following approach as an alternative compliance path to meet the requirements of EQc6.1: 1) Survey all future occupants in advance of occupancy to identify those who desire a task light then provide a light upon move-in, 2) Survey all occupants post-occupancy to identify any persons who desire a task light then provide a light, and 3) Commit to making task lights available to all employees who request them at anytime. A survey based approach will meet the requirements only if 90% or more of the respondents request a task light and are provided with the equipment. The described situation makes a very strong case for decreasing environmental impact in not requiring the potentially unnecessary acquisition of products that may not be used by building occupants. The project team should explore credits in other categories of LEED for this strategy, as the elements outlined above may help in achievement of other points. Please note that task-ambient lighting systems that provide low levels of ambient light supplemented with additional task lights have the ability to reduce energy, reduce environmental impact by avoiding installation of excessive ambient light fixtures that provide task illuminance. The intent of EQc6.1 is that the occupants be given individual control to change their light levels to suit their needs. A survey based approach makes the user aware of their needs at the time of the survey only, it does not give them control over their lights unless they respond in the survey that they need a tasklight.
**Update October 1, 2013: Applicable credits have been updated.