When LEED 2009 was launched, this credit included language calling for containment drains in laboratory spaces where chemicals are mixed. However, the requirement was vague and it wasn't clear how to document it. Fortunately, in the July 2010 LEED addenda issued by USGBC, this requirement was removed.
Multifamily residential and hotel projects may have difficulty achieving this credit due to the MERV 13 filtration requirement. These projects often do not have base-building HVAC systems; they use PTACs instead, which generally cannot be fitted with MERV 13 filters. If a project has forced air systems and MERV-13 filtration is not used, then you cannot pursue or achieve this credit. Naturally ventilated buildings do not have to meet the MERV 13 filtration requirement, as air filtration will not be part of system design.
In addition to tobacco smoke, covered in IEQp2, one of the greatest sources of indoor pollutants is the dirt and other contaminants brought into buildings on people’s shoes. This material is tracked through the building interior, increasing the need and frequency for cleaning, and the wear on interior finishes. Dust can also be introduced into ventilation systems and distributed throughout a building, negatively effecting indoor air quality.
Core-and-Shell (CS) projects must meet all the relevant credit requirements for the CS scope of the building, including work done as part of the base building in future tenant spaces. (This requirement does not appear in the credit language or Reference Guide, but is included in the LEED Online credit form.) Among other things, the requirements apply to common areas and base-building mechanical ventilation systems.
This credit requires compliance with a varied group of items that cumulatively help keep pollutants out of the indoor air. These requirements include self-closing doors on janitors' closets, MERV 13 filtration on mechanical equipment, and entryway trackoff systems.
Compliance will require the coordination of team members—including the mechanical engineer, architect, plumbing engineer, and contractor—and also impact project design and operations. The basic requirements are:
This credit requires compliance with a varied group of requirements that cumulatively help keep pollutants out of the indoor air. These requirements include self-closing doors on janitors' closets, MERV 13 filtration on mechanical equipment, and entryway trackoff systems.
Compliance will require the coordination of team members—including the mechanical engineer, architect, plumbing engineer, and contractor—and also impact project design and operations. The basic requirements are:
I just returned from the Greenbuild conference in Phoenix. This annual event, now in its eighth year, has become the leading locus for exchange of information about the rapidly growing green building movement. This year's event drew some 22,000 attendees, including architects, builders, engineers, developers, and manufacturers, from the U.S., Canada, and dozens of other countries.
For projects using CFC-based equipment in the tenant space or a central plant, the LEED Reference Guide had recommended development of a CFC phase-out plan, or a qualified third-party audit showing that a phase-out plan is not economically feasible. However, this requirement was removed with LEED addendum issued 5/9/11.
Core-and-shell (CS) projects encompass all equipment within the project scope and LEED boundary, which may include ventilation systems for common areas and any heat pumps installed for tenant spaces.
This is an easy prerequisite to meet, since installing equipment without CFC-based refrigerants is now standard practice in new construction. Nearly all industrialized nations have signed the Montreal Protocol, which called for a complete phase out of CFC-based refrigerants by 1995, and HCFCs by 2030 in developed countries. As a result, compliant, environmentally preferable refrigerants that comply with this prerequisite are the only option available for new systems.