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Credit language
Requirements
Prohibit smoking inside the building.
Prohibit smoking outside the building except in designated smoking areas located at least 25 feet (7.5 meters) from all entries, outdoor air intakes, and operable windows. Also prohibit smoking outside the property line in spaces used for business purposes.
If the requirement to prohibit smoking within 25 feet (7.5 meters) cannot be implemented because of code, provide documentation of these regulations.
Signage must be posted within 10 feet (3 meters) of all building entrances indicating the no-smoking policy.
Residential only
Option 1. No Smoking
Meet the requirements above.
OR
Option 2. Compartmentalization of Smoking Areas
Prohibit smoking inside all common areas of the building. The prohibition must be communicated in building rental or lease agreements or condo or coop association covenants and restrictions. Make provisions for enforcement.
Prohibit smoking outside the building except in designated smoking areas located at least 25 feet (7.5 meters) from all entries, outdoor air intakes, and operable windows. The no-smoking policy also applies to spaces outside the property line used for business purposes.
If the requirement to prohibit smoking within 25 feet (7.5 meters) cannot be implemented because of code, provide documentation of these regulations.
Signage must be posted within 10 feet (3 meters) of all building entrances indicating the no-smoking policy.
Each unit must be compartmentalized to prevent excessive leakage between units:
- Weather-strip all exterior doors and operable windows in the residential units to minimize leakage from outdoors.
- Weather-strip all doors leading from residential units into common hallways.
- Minimize uncontrolled pathways for the transfer of smoke and other indoor air pollutants between residential units by sealing penetrations in the walls, ceilings, and floors and by sealing vertical chases (including utility chases, garbage chutes, mail drops, and elevator shafts) adjacent to the units.
- Demonstrate a maximum leakage of 0.23 cubic feet per minute per square foot (1.17 liters per second per square meter) at 50 Pa of enclosure (i.e., all surfaces enclosing the apartment, including exterior and party walls, floors, and ceilings).
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Frequently asked questions
Municipal law requires that our building be completely smoke-free inside. It also bans smoking next to the building, but it’s not as stringent as the 25 foot LEED requirement. Do we have to make another policy that bans smoking within 25 feet?
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We want to designate a smoking area less than 25 feet from an emergency exit. Is this okay since that door is rarely (if ever) used?
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What if I have a zero lot line property and no control over the sidewalk?
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What about vaping and e-cigarettes?
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What does it cost?
Cost estimates for this credit
On each BD+C v4 credit, LEEDuser offers the wisdom of a team of architects, engineers, cost estimators, and LEED experts with hundreds of LEED projects between then. They analyzed the sustainable design strategies associated with each LEED credit, but also to assign actual costs to those strategies.
Our tab contains overall cost guidance, notes on what “soft costs” to expect, and a strategy-by-strategy breakdown of what to consider and what it might cost, in percentage premiums, actual costs, or both.
This information is also available in a full PDF download in The Cost of LEED v4 report.
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Checklists
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Documentation toolkit
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LEEDuser’s Documentation Toolkit is loaded with calculators to help assess credit compliance, tracking spreadsheets for materials, sample templates to help guide your narratives and LEED Online submissions, and examples of actual submissions from certified LEED projects for you to check your work against. To get your plaque, start with the right toolkit.
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Addenda
01/04/2015– Updated: 19/02/2020
Reference Guide Correction
Description of change:
100001993
Add the following language under Campus Approach section:
"Eligible. Projects can demonstrate compliance with a campus-wide no-smoking policy in lieu of building signage. The policy must be widely communicated to all occupants (including transients and visitors) through ongoing methods such as site signage and other media (brochures, websites, etc.)."
Internationally Applicable:
No
01/10/2014– Updated: 14/02/2015
Reference Guide Correction
Description of change:
100001934
Required Documentation section, revise the last documentation requirement in the table so it reads: "Any code restrictions that prevent establishment of no-smoking requirements."
Internationally Applicable:
Yes
LEED Interpretation
Inquiry:
Are electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) covered under the Environmental Tobacco Smoke Control prerequisite?
Ruling:
Yes, electronic cigarettes are considered a form of smoking for the purposes of both the interior and exterior smoking provisions of the LEED Prerequisite Environmental Tobacco Smoke Control. As recommended in the December 2013 report[1] prepared for the World Health Organization, “e-cigarettes should be prohibited anywhere where the use of conventional cigarettes is prohibited”. The indoor air quality impacts from electronic cigarettes are not fully characterized, but there is sufficient evidence that electronic cigarettes produce emissions in fine aerosol form that can expose building occupants. For example, according to the report, “several chemicals that have been found in e-cigarette aerosol and e-liquid are on California’s official list of known human carcinogens or reproductive toxicants, including nicotine, acetaldehyde, formaldehyde, nickel, lead, toluene(1)”.
[1] Background Paper on E-cigarettes (Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems); Grana, R.; Benowitz, N.; Glantz, SA; December 2013; University of California
Internationally Applicable:
Yes
LEED Interpretation
Inquiry:
Inquiry:
Is the smoking of cannabis covered under the Environmental Tobacco Smoke Control prerequisite?
Ruling:
Yes, smoking of cannabis is considered a form of smoking for the purposes of both the interior and exterior smoking provisions of the LEED Prerequisite Environmental Tobacco Smoke Control.
Secondhand cannabis smoke has been shown to contain many of the same chemicals and carcinogens as secondhand tobacco smoke [1].
[1] Moir D, Rickert WS, Levasseur G, et al. A Comparison of Mainstream and Sidestream Marijuana and Tobacco Cigarette Smoke Produced under Two Machine Smoking Conditions. American Chemical Society. 2008;21:494-502.
Internationally Applicable:
Yes
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