Compliance paths for IEQc8.1 have some key differences between v2.2 and v2009. In LEED-NC v2.2, Option 1: Calcualation allows you to show compliance with EQc8.1 by demonstrating over 75% of the regularly occupied areas have a glazing factor of at least 2%. These glazing factor calculations consider window, wall, ceiling and floor areas, glazing type and VLT values.
Access to daylight inside buildings makes for healthier and more comfortable occupants—and is also linked with greater productivity. When designed with proper glare control and minimized solar heat gain, daylighting provides high-quality light while significantly reducing energy use for lighting and for cooling. Increased daylight through increased vision glazing can help projects earn EQc8.2 for access to views. Realizing the benefits of daylighting requires a collaborative design process.
Buildings that provide views to the outdoors have proven to enhance productivity, testing performance, and overall occupant comfort and well-being. This credit is easy to achieve if you also plan to design for open space planning, placing occupied spaces near exterior windows with large glazing areas. and design spaces to use furniture that does not block views from a seated position, such as low or transparent partitions between workstations.
This prerequisite is a big one, not only because it’s required for all projects, but also because it feeds directly into EAc1: Optimize Energy Performance, where about 15% of the total available points in LEED are at stake. Master the minimum requirements under EAp2, and you will be well on your way to earning points under EAc1. Keep in mind that any LEED-NC v2.2 project registered after June 26, 2007 must achieve at least two energy use reduction points via EAc1 methodology. Plan for this in your approach to EAp2.
The following email from USGBC was just forwarded to me by a LEED-CS project team administator. I thought it was worth sharing for anyone who might not have seen it.
TO: All Registered non-certified LEED-CS v2.0 projects
Be aware of the following update to the submittal documentation for LEED-CS v2.0 EAc1.
Last month, I heard my first presentation on the Green Globes rating system. I felt like the Bishop of Canterbury hearing Henry the VIII tell me about this new "Church of England" he was planning to roll out. That is, I was suspicious, but interested to get the low-down on how it works with a real open mind, so that I might know what the future may or may not hold. I have to say, I find some of the innovations to be really good. Namely, a flexible tool that does what LEED’s high touted, but never delivered bookshelf model was supposed to do (or so I thought).
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, a key part of the federal economic stimulus program, extended a 30% federal tax credit for certain home energy upgrades through 2010.
Americans spend a lot of energy drying clothes.
EAc1: Optimize Energy Performance is, by far, the most important credit in LEED, based on the number of points available. Up to 10 points are at stake here based on how much you’re able to reduce the project’s predicted energy cost. That large amount of points also reflects the great importance LEED places on reducing energy use and forestalling climate change.