Log in
LEED v2009
Commercial Interiors
Indoor Environmental Quality
Low-Emitting Materials—Systems Furniture and Seating

LEED CREDIT

CI-2009 IEQc4.5: Low-emitting materials - systems furniture and seating 1 point

See all forum discussions about this credit »

Credit achievement rate

XX%

Upgrade to LEEDuser Premium to see how many projects achieved this credit. Try it free »

LEEDuser expert

Brent Ehrlich

BuildingGreen
Products and materials specialist

LEEDuser’s viewpoint

Frank advice from LEED experts

LEED is changing all the time, and every project is unique. Even seasoned professionals can miss a critical detail and lose a credit or even a prerequisite at the last minute. Our expert advice guides our LEEDuser Premium members and saves you valuable time.

Credit language

USGBC logo

© Copyright U.S. Green Building Council, Inc. All rights reserved.

Requirements

All systems furniture1 and seating2 that was manufactured, refurbished or refinished within 1 year prior3 to occupancy must meet 1 of the options below.

OPTION 1
Furniture and seating are Greenguard Indoor Air Quality Certified.

OR

OPTION 2
Calculated indoor air concentrations that are less than or equal to those listed in Table 1 for furniture systems and seating determined by a procedure based on ANSI/BIFMA M7.1-2007and ANSI/BIFMA X7.1-2007 testing protocol conducted in an independent third-party air quality testing laboratory. The requirement in Section 5 of ANSI/BIFMA X7.1-2007 is waived for LEED purposes. Section 5 requires that laboratories used to perform the emissions testing and/or provide analytical results must be independently accredited to ISO/IEC 17025, “General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories.”

Chemical Contaminant

Emission Limits Systems Furniture

Emission Limits Seating

TVOC

0.5 mg/m3

0.25 mg/m3

Formaldehyde

50 parts per billion

25 parts per billion

Total Aldehydes

100 parts per billion

50 parts per billion

4 – Phenylcyclohexene (4-PCH)

0.0065 mg/m3

0.00325 mg/m3

Credit substitution available
You may use the LEED v4 version of this credit on v2009 projects. For more information check out this article.
1 Systems furniture is defined as either a panel-based workstation comprised of modular interconnecting panels, hang-on components and drawer/filing components, or a freestanding grouping of furniture items and their components that have been designed to work in concert. Furniture other than systems furniture and task and guest chairs used with systems furniture is defined as occasional furniture and is excluded from the credit requirements. 2 Seating is defined as task and guest chairs used with systems furniture 3 Salvaged and used furniture that is more than 1-year-old at time of occupancy is excluded from the credit requirements.
See all forum discussions about this credit »

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.

Learn more about The Cost of LEED v4 »

Addenda

10/1/2012Updated: 2/14/2015
Global ACP
Description of change:
Replace the definition of "volatile organic compounds (VOC's)" with "a carbon compound that vaporizes (becomes a gas) at normal room temperatures. VOCs contribute to air pollution directly and through atmospheric photochemical reactions (excluding carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, carbonic acid, metallic carbides and carbonates, and ammonium carbonate) to produce secondary air pollutants, principally ozone and peroxyacetyl nitrate."
Campus Applicable
No
Internationally Applicable:
Yes
7/19/2010Updated: 2/14/2015
Reference Guide Correction
Description of change:
Remove the entire section:OPTION 2Calculated indoor air concentrations that are less than or equal to thoselisted in Table 1 for furniture systems and seating determined by aprocedure based on the EPA Environmental Technology Verification(ETV) Large Chamber Test Protocol for Measuring Emissions of VOCsand Aldehydes (September 1999) testing protocol conducted in anindependent air quality testing laboratory.OR
Campus Applicable
No
Internationally Applicable:
No
7/19/2010Updated: 2/14/2015
Rating System Correction
Description of change:
Remove the entire section:OPTION 2Calculated indoor air concentrations that are less than or equal to thoselisted in Table 1 for furniture systems and seating determined by aprocedure based on the EPA Environmental Technology Verification(ETV) Large Chamber Test Protocol for Measuring Emissions of VOCsand Aldehydes (September 1999) testing protocol conducted in anindependent air quality testing laboratory.OR
Campus Applicable
No
Internationally Applicable:
No
7/19/2010Updated: 2/14/2015
Reference Guide Correction
Description of change:
Update "OPTION 3" to "OPTION 2"
Campus Applicable
No
Internationally Applicable:
No
7/19/2010Updated: 2/14/2015
Rating System Correction
Description of change:
Update "OPTION 3" to "OPTION 2"
Campus Applicable
No
Internationally Applicable:
No
See all forum discussions about this credit »

Checklists

Step by step to LEED certification

LEEDuser’s checklists walk you through the key action steps you need to earn a credit, including how to avoid common pitfalls and save money.

See all forum discussions about this credit »

Documentation toolkit

The motherlode of cheat sheets

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.

Credit achievement rate

XX%

Upgrade to LEEDuser Premium to see how many projects achieved this credit. Try it free »

LEEDuser expert

Brent Ehrlich

BuildingGreen
Products and materials specialist

Get the inside scoop

Our editors have written a detailed analysis of nearly every LEED credit, and LEEDuser premium members get full access. We’ll tell you whether the credit is easy to accomplish or better left alone, and we provide insider tips on how to document it successfully.

USGBC logo

© Copyright U.S. Green Building Council, Inc. All rights reserved.

Requirements

All systems furniture1 and seating2 that was manufactured, refurbished or refinished within 1 year prior3 to occupancy must meet 1 of the options below.

OPTION 1
Furniture and seating are Greenguard Indoor Air Quality Certified.

OR

OPTION 2
Calculated indoor air concentrations that are less than or equal to those listed in Table 1 for furniture systems and seating determined by a procedure based on ANSI/BIFMA M7.1-2007and ANSI/BIFMA X7.1-2007 testing protocol conducted in an independent third-party air quality testing laboratory. The requirement in Section 5 of ANSI/BIFMA X7.1-2007 is waived for LEED purposes. Section 5 requires that laboratories used to perform the emissions testing and/or provide analytical results must be independently accredited to ISO/IEC 17025, “General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories.”

Chemical Contaminant

Emission Limits Systems Furniture

Emission Limits Seating

TVOC

0.5 mg/m3

0.25 mg/m3

Formaldehyde

50 parts per billion

25 parts per billion

Total Aldehydes

100 parts per billion

50 parts per billion

4 – Phenylcyclohexene (4-PCH)

0.0065 mg/m3

0.00325 mg/m3

Credit substitution available
You may use the LEED v4 version of this credit on v2009 projects. For more information check out this article.
1 Systems furniture is defined as either a panel-based workstation comprised of modular interconnecting panels, hang-on components and drawer/filing components, or a freestanding grouping of furniture items and their components that have been designed to work in concert. Furniture other than systems furniture and task and guest chairs used with systems furniture is defined as occasional furniture and is excluded from the credit requirements. 2 Seating is defined as task and guest chairs used with systems furniture 3 Salvaged and used furniture that is more than 1-year-old at time of occupancy is excluded from the credit requirements.

XX%

Upgrade to LEEDuser Premium to see how many projects achieved this credit. Try it free »

Got the gist of IEQc4.5 but not sure how to actually achieve it? LEEDuser gives step-by-step help. Premium members get:

  • Checklists covering all the key action steps you'll need to earn the credit.
  • Hot tips to give you shortcuts and avoid pitfalls.
  • Cost tips to assess what a credit will actually cost, and how to make it affordable.
  • Ideas for going beyond LEED with best practices.
  • All checklists organized by project phase.
  • On-the-fly suggestions of useful items from the Documentation Toolkit and Credit Language.

In the end, LEED is all about documentation. LEEDuser’s Documentation Toolkit, for premium members only, saves you time and helps you avoid mistakes with:

  • Calculators to help assess credit compliance.
  • Tracking spreadsheets for materials purchases.
  • Spreadsheets and forms to give to subs and other team members.
  • Guidance documents on arcane LEED issues.
  • Sample templates to help guide your narratives and LEED Online submissions.
  • Examples of actual submissions from certified LEED projects.

LEEDuser expert

Brent Ehrlich

BuildingGreen
Products and materials specialist

See all LEEDuser forum discussions about this credit » Unsubscribe from discussions about CI-2009 IEQc4.5