Do bike racks have to be within the LEED project boundary?
No, as long as they meet the credit requirement of being within 200 yards of a building entrance.
Are there specific requirements for the changing rooms, such as size?
No. Use common design standards and principles. A shower and a changing room may be part of the same space.
Does LEED have any requirements on spacing or the type of bike racks used? What about security?
LEED does not prescribe the type of bicycle rack that should be used or the spacing between them, or the location. However, if you want to provide the best options possible for your bicyclists, look at bike rack design and capacity figures with a skeptical eye. So-called "wheel bender" and "wave" racks, for example, do not provide much security, and can become overcrowded. Some form of locking defines "secure"—choose what is appropriate for the project and location.
Do small appliances (such as refrigerators and water coolers) that have greater than 0.5 pounds of refrigerant have to be included in order to achieve EAc5?
Yes. If there is no recorded leakage over the last 12 months, you must use 0.5% for the Lr value, which represents the low-end of the allowable range. However, if the equipment is under separate management control (e.g. a refrigerator owned by a tenant), you may use the 10% exemption to exclude that equipment from the credit requirements (up to 10% of the building floor area can be excluded if it is under separate management control).
Can I use the LEED-NC default of 25% recycled content for steel in our furniture purchases?
ANSWER – The LEED-EBOM Reference Guide doesn’t explicitly offer the same default for steel recycled content that is afforded under LEED-NC, and steel building materials typically have a much higher level of recycled content than steel consumer products. That said, the 25% default is a conservative estimate and isn’t unreasonable for products that fall in the EBOM durable goods category. It’s likely that the 25% default will pass the LEED review process; however, it’s always preferable to provide manufacturer product data sheets that confirm the actual recycled content level.
We have multiple tenants in our building, some of which are not responsive to requests for purchasing records. Can we exclude their purchases?
In instances where tenant data cannot be gathered, or the LEED-EBOM applicant does not have control over tenant operational practices, the project team may exclude up to 10% of the building’s gross floor area for any credit. See page xxii of the Reference Guide for further information.
What exactly qualifies as an item or material salvaged onsite?
Onsite salvage refers to an established internal program focusing on material reuse. Shuffling equipment around the office or between floors does not count (except in a multi-tenant scenario where unwanted items are collected and distributed between tenants). This criterion is often best met by larger organizations that place used furniture in long-term storage and then make stored items available to other buildings within the organization when the need arises.
How can EPEAT products help me achieve my project’s sustainability goals?
The EPEAT program can help you evaluate electronic products (desktop computers, laptops and monitors) against a large range of environmental performance criteria—not just energy use. You can be sure that any EPEAT-rated product is energy-efficient because Energy Star certification is a requirement of the EPEAT program. This means that a product that has earned any level of EPEAT rating allows you to claim two sustainability criteria and earn double credit under MRc2, for Energy Star and EPEAT.
Purchasing for our organization takes place in the LEED-EBOM project building, but not all durable goods that are purchased end up being used there. Should we include all of the purchases in MRc2?
Only durable goods that are used within the scope of the LEED project boundary should be included in MRc2.