Our project is a 7 story 163,000 sq. ft. laboratory/vivarium building that is mechanically ventilated with MERV 13 filtration for all air handling units serving the building. Among various other programmed areas, the building has 21 zones of open laboratory spaces that are being MERV 13 filtered, heated, and cooled by the laboratory air handling unit system. To minimize the excessive requirements of outside air into the building for these labs, supplemental recirculated fan coil units are being provided for these 21 zones. The systems (at minimum load conditions) start out by ventilating these labs with 6 ACH (air changes per hour). Upon an increase in load, the VAV (variable air volume) air system will increase the ventilation to these zones to a maximum condition that corresponds to 12 ACH. Upon further need for cooling (based on excessive summer heat through the exterior glazing to these zones), there are 21 individual fan coil units that provide additional cooling to these spaces to satisfy the local temperature sensors. The 12 ACH still comes from the MERV 13 filtered air handling unit systems but the fan coil units are only MERV 8 filtered. The intent for these supplemental systems was to minimize the energy consumption for these transient conditions by not utilizing additional outside air. Since these units fully recirculate their air flows from within these 21 laboratory zones and only activate upon excessive cooling conditions to supplement the flows from the MERV 13 air handling units, does this ventilation scheme meet the intent of EQ credit 5: Indoor Chemical & Pollutant Source Control?
The CIR inquiry indicates that the project receives 100% of its outside air through air handling units that are equipped with MERV 13 filtration, as required by EQc5. Additional fan coil units equipped with MERV 8 filters are located within the building to provide supplemental cooling for 21 zones during maximum load conditions. The supplemental fan coil units supply air is made up of a mixture of filtered outside air from the air handling units that are equipped with MERV 13 filters and from recirculated air within the conditioned zones. Since the fan coil units recirculate room air, they must have MERV 13 filters. Therefore, the design, as described, does not appear to meet the intent of the credit. NOTE: UPDATED CREDIT LANGUAGE FOR 2009 STATES THAT "PARTICLE FILTERS OF AIR CLEANING DEVICES SHALL BE PROVIDED TO CLEAN THE OUTDOOR AIR AT ANY LOCATION PRIOR TO ITS INTRODUCTION TO OCCUPIED SPACES". REQUIREMENT FOR FILTRATION ON RETURN AIR IS NO LONGER APPLICABLE TO ANY VERSION OF ANY RATING SYSTEM.