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.  

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.

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.