Replace the term description with the text "Green cleaning is the use of cleaning products and practices that have lower environmental impacts and more positive indoor air quality impacts than conventional products and practices."
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
Alexis Voeltner
LEED AP O+M, BREEAM In-Use Licensed Assessor, Fitwel Ambassador
UL Solutions
Sustainability Project Manager
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
© Copyright U.S. Green Building Council, Inc. All rights reserved.
Requirements
Implement a program for the use of janitorial equipment that reduces building contaminants and minimizes environmental impact. The cleaning equipment program must require the following:
- Vacuum cleaners are certified by the Carpet and Rug Institute “Green Label” Testing Program for vacuum cleaners and operate with a sound level of less than 70dBA.
- Carpet extraction equipment used for restorative deep cleaning is certified by the Carpet and Rug Institute’s “Seal of Approval” Testing Program for deep-cleaning extractors.
- Powered floor maintenance equipment, including electric and battery-powered floor buffers and burnishers, is equipped with vacuums, guards and/or other devices for capturing fine particulates and operates with a sound level of less than 70dBA.
- Propane-powered floor equipment has high-efficiency, low-emissions engines with catalytic converters and mufflers that meet the California Air Resources Board (CARB) or Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards for the specific engine size and operate with a sound level of less than 90dBA.
- Automated scrubbing machines are equipped with variable-speed feed pumps and on-board chemical metering to optimize the use of cleaning fluids. Alternatively, the scrubbing machines use only tap water with no added cleaning products.
- Battery-powered equipment is equipped with environmentally preferable gel batteries.
- Powered equipment is ergonomically designed to minimize vibration, noise and user fatigue.
- Equipment is designed with safeguards, such as rollers or rubber bumpers, to reduce potential damage to building surfaces.
Credit substitution available
You may use the LEED v4 version of this credit on v2009 projects. For more information check out this article.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 »Frequently asked questions
How often do I need maintain equipment in order to meet the credit requirements?The answer to this question is available to LEEDuser premium members. Start a free trial » (If you're already a premium member, log in here.) |
Does the project building need to make any purchases during the performance period?The answer to this question is available to LEEDuser premium members. Start a free trial » (If you're already a premium member, log in here.) |
Addenda
11/2/2009 – Updated: 2/14/2015
Reference Guide Correction
Description of change:
Campus Applicable
No
Internationally Applicable:
No
11/1/2011
LEED Interpretation
Inquiry:
The project team proposes to use a environmentally preferable cleaning solution, a handheld ionized tap water system, to eliminate or significantly reduce the amount of chemicals used within the project building.
The ionized water system works as follows:
1.When the spray bottle trigger is pressed, the water flows through a water cell that applies a slight electrical charge to the tap water.
2.The charged water passes through an ion exchange membrane, where the ionized water is separated into an oxygenated mixture of positively and negatively electrically charged nano-bubbles.
3.When applied directly to a surface, the ionized water helps break apart and lift the dirt from the surface like a magnet, enabling it to be wiped away.
4.Before the water exits the nozzle, a slight electric field is applied, allowing the water to carry a low-level electric field to the surface where the germs may be living. When used as directed with tap water in the majority of municipalities, this low-level electric field can kill more than 99.9 percent of harmful germs.
Using an ionized water cleaning system would no longer require purchase of many green cleaning chemicals; therefore, the project team has developed a new approach to documenting IEQc3.3. Rather than documenting that 30 percent of the products purchased meet the LEED sustainable cleaning criteria (by cost), the project team proposes to document the cleaning methods used during each cleaning shift. After each shift, the housekeeping personnel will document the cleaning methods and chemicals (or tap water if using the electrolyzed water system) used. Sustainable methods and chemicals that meet the LEED requirements for this alternative compliance approach will include either the use of chemicals that meet existing IEQc3.3 requirements or the use of ionized tap water.
An alternative compliance table will be created by the project team to account for criteria (with regard to performance vs. purchases) in order to demonstrate compliance with the SSc3.3 requirements.
Ruling:
"The project team seeks allowance to satisfy the credit requirements through the use of ionized tap water in lieu of chemical cleaning solutions. This is an acceptable approach if the following criteria are met:
•Manufacturer’s documentation of third-party performance testing is included with the credit submittal documentation. The testing should demonstrate performance comparable to Green Seal, Environmental Choice, or another standard equivalent to or more stringent than those required in IEQc3.3: Green Cleaning—Purchase of Sustainable Cleaning Products and Materials.
•If the device is marketed and used for antimicrobial cleaning, manufacturer’s testing must demonstrate antimicrobial performance comparable to EPA’s Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics (OPPT) and Design for the Environment (DfE) requirements as appropriate for use patterns and marketing claims.
•A custodial effectiveness assessment is performed as outlined in IEQc3.2: Green Cleaning—Custodial Effectiveness Assessment.
•The typical performance metric (percentage of purchases based on cost) for evaluating compliance with this credit will not apply. The project team may show compliance with one of the following:
a) Showing, based on one year of historic cleaning chemical costs, that use of ionized tap water during the performance period has reduced the purchase of chemical cleaning and material products by at least 30%. Any changes in occupancy or other factors that vary between the baseline year and the performance period that affect the need for cleaning products must be accounted for in the analysis.
b. Tracking the total cost of all cleaning and material products purchased during the performance period, plus the amortized cost for the ionized water cleaning system (amortized over 12 months).
c) Tracking the total volume of cleaning and material products and ionized water used during the performance period and showing that 30% meets the existing IEQc3.3 criteria or is ionized tap water. Applicable internationally.
"
Campus Applicable
No
Internationally Applicable:
Yes
8/1/2011
LEED Interpretation
Inquiry:
We want to request an interpretation of the requirements for LEED EB EQc3.3 stated in a previous CIR dated 4/24/2004. The CIR appears to be written for new construction and for sale unit properties (such as condos).The 2004 LEED NC CIR states that multi-unit residential buildings must meet the requirements for commercial buildings (covering common area, owner controlled areas of the building), and the following for the residential, tenant controlled areas:Item #1: Educate the residents on the green cleaning concepts and products via discussion and written materials upon move-in and periodically thereafter.Item #2: Provide an estimated six-month supply of green cleaning products to residents, as wellas information on how to easily purchase refills and/or replacements.Assume that a Multi-Family Residential Apartment (Rental) Property complies with the following:1.The property that is applying for LEED EB certification meets all the requirements for LEED EB Green Cleaning credits for common spaces/owner controlled spaces including the cleaning policy and plan, products purchased and used, equipment purchased and used, and also follows the same green cleaning procedures whenever they have access to residential apartment units (including during all
Ruling:
The project has proposed an alternative compliance path for 2009 Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance projects that include multi-family residential units for IEQ Prerequisite 3: Green Cleaning Policy, IEQ Credit 3.1: Green Cleaning High Performance Cleaning program, and IEQ Credit 3.3: Green Cleaning- Purchase of Sustainable Cleaning Products and Materials using Innovation in Design credit requirements outlined in Formal Inquiry dated 04/08/2004 ID #766 for multi-family New Construction projects. The proposed approach is not acceptable. For IEQ Prerequisite 3: Green Cleaning Policy and IEQc3.1: Green Cleaning-High-Performance Cleaning Program, the green cleaning policy and program includes resident areas. Additional steps should be taken to educate the residents on the green cleaning concepts and recommended products via discussion and written materials upon move-in and periodically thereafter. Examples of acceptable steps could include a written program, a brochure, a coupon for discounted purchase, or a bulk supply of cleaning supplies available at maintenance office. For existing building projects with multi-family spaces attempting IEQ Credit 3.3: Green Cleaning- Purchase of Sustainable Cleaning Products and Materials the percent of total annual purchases must include all cleaning purchases made for the building, regardless of who purchased the products (residents or building staff).Applicable internationally.
Campus Applicable
No
Internationally Applicable:
Yes
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.
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.
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.
© Copyright U.S. Green Building Council, Inc. All rights reserved.
Requirements
Implement a program for the use of janitorial equipment that reduces building contaminants and minimizes environmental impact. The cleaning equipment program must require the following:
- Vacuum cleaners are certified by the Carpet and Rug Institute “Green Label” Testing Program for vacuum cleaners and operate with a sound level of less than 70dBA.
- Carpet extraction equipment used for restorative deep cleaning is certified by the Carpet and Rug Institute’s “Seal of Approval” Testing Program for deep-cleaning extractors.
- Powered floor maintenance equipment, including electric and battery-powered floor buffers and burnishers, is equipped with vacuums, guards and/or other devices for capturing fine particulates and operates with a sound level of less than 70dBA.
- Propane-powered floor equipment has high-efficiency, low-emissions engines with catalytic converters and mufflers that meet the California Air Resources Board (CARB) or Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) standards for the specific engine size and operate with a sound level of less than 90dBA.
- Automated scrubbing machines are equipped with variable-speed feed pumps and on-board chemical metering to optimize the use of cleaning fluids. Alternatively, the scrubbing machines use only tap water with no added cleaning products.
- Battery-powered equipment is equipped with environmentally preferable gel batteries.
- Powered equipment is ergonomically designed to minimize vibration, noise and user fatigue.
- Equipment is designed with safeguards, such as rollers or rubber bumpers, to reduce potential damage to building surfaces.
Credit substitution available
You may use the LEED v4 version of this credit on v2009 projects. For more information check out this article.XX%
Upgrade to LEEDuser Premium to see how many projects achieved this credit. Try it free »
Got the gist of IEQc3.4 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.
How often do I need maintain equipment in order to meet the credit requirements?The answer to this question is available to LEEDuser premium members. Start a free trial » (If you're already a premium member, log in here.) |
Does the project building need to make any purchases during the performance period?The answer to this question is available to LEEDuser premium members. Start a free trial » (If you're already a premium member, log in here.) |
11/2/2009 – Updated: 2/14/2015
Reference Guide Correction
Description of change:
Replace the term description with the text "Green cleaning is the use of cleaning products and practices that have lower environmental impacts and more positive indoor air quality impacts than conventional products and practices."
Campus Applicable
No
Internationally Applicable:
No
11/1/2011
LEED Interpretation
Inquiry:
The project team proposes to use a environmentally preferable cleaning solution, a handheld ionized tap water system, to eliminate or significantly reduce the amount of chemicals used within the project building.
The ionized water system works as follows:
1.When the spray bottle trigger is pressed, the water flows through a water cell that applies a slight electrical charge to the tap water.
2.The charged water passes through an ion exchange membrane, where the ionized water is separated into an oxygenated mixture of positively and negatively electrically charged nano-bubbles.
3.When applied directly to a surface, the ionized water helps break apart and lift the dirt from the surface like a magnet, enabling it to be wiped away.
4.Before the water exits the nozzle, a slight electric field is applied, allowing the water to carry a low-level electric field to the surface where the germs may be living. When used as directed with tap water in the majority of municipalities, this low-level electric field can kill more than 99.9 percent of harmful germs.
Using an ionized water cleaning system would no longer require purchase of many green cleaning chemicals; therefore, the project team has developed a new approach to documenting IEQc3.3. Rather than documenting that 30 percent of the products purchased meet the LEED sustainable cleaning criteria (by cost), the project team proposes to document the cleaning methods used during each cleaning shift. After each shift, the housekeeping personnel will document the cleaning methods and chemicals (or tap water if using the electrolyzed water system) used. Sustainable methods and chemicals that meet the LEED requirements for this alternative compliance approach will include either the use of chemicals that meet existing IEQc3.3 requirements or the use of ionized tap water.
An alternative compliance table will be created by the project team to account for criteria (with regard to performance vs. purchases) in order to demonstrate compliance with the SSc3.3 requirements.
Ruling:
"The project team seeks allowance to satisfy the credit requirements through the use of ionized tap water in lieu of chemical cleaning solutions. This is an acceptable approach if the following criteria are met:
•Manufacturer’s documentation of third-party performance testing is included with the credit submittal documentation. The testing should demonstrate performance comparable to Green Seal, Environmental Choice, or another standard equivalent to or more stringent than those required in IEQc3.3: Green Cleaning—Purchase of Sustainable Cleaning Products and Materials.
•If the device is marketed and used for antimicrobial cleaning, manufacturer’s testing must demonstrate antimicrobial performance comparable to EPA’s Office of Pollution Prevention and Toxics (OPPT) and Design for the Environment (DfE) requirements as appropriate for use patterns and marketing claims.
•A custodial effectiveness assessment is performed as outlined in IEQc3.2: Green Cleaning—Custodial Effectiveness Assessment.
•The typical performance metric (percentage of purchases based on cost) for evaluating compliance with this credit will not apply. The project team may show compliance with one of the following:
a) Showing, based on one year of historic cleaning chemical costs, that use of ionized tap water during the performance period has reduced the purchase of chemical cleaning and material products by at least 30%. Any changes in occupancy or other factors that vary between the baseline year and the performance period that affect the need for cleaning products must be accounted for in the analysis.
b. Tracking the total cost of all cleaning and material products purchased during the performance period, plus the amortized cost for the ionized water cleaning system (amortized over 12 months).
c) Tracking the total volume of cleaning and material products and ionized water used during the performance period and showing that 30% meets the existing IEQc3.3 criteria or is ionized tap water. Applicable internationally.
"
Campus Applicable
No
Internationally Applicable:
Yes
8/1/2011
LEED Interpretation
Inquiry:
We want to request an interpretation of the requirements for LEED EB EQc3.3 stated in a previous CIR dated 4/24/2004. The CIR appears to be written for new construction and for sale unit properties (such as condos).The 2004 LEED NC CIR states that multi-unit residential buildings must meet the requirements for commercial buildings (covering common area, owner controlled areas of the building), and the following for the residential, tenant controlled areas:Item #1: Educate the residents on the green cleaning concepts and products via discussion and written materials upon move-in and periodically thereafter.Item #2: Provide an estimated six-month supply of green cleaning products to residents, as wellas information on how to easily purchase refills and/or replacements.Assume that a Multi-Family Residential Apartment (Rental) Property complies with the following:1.The property that is applying for LEED EB certification meets all the requirements for LEED EB Green Cleaning credits for common spaces/owner controlled spaces including the cleaning policy and plan, products purchased and used, equipment purchased and used, and also follows the same green cleaning procedures whenever they have access to residential apartment units (including during all
Ruling:
The project has proposed an alternative compliance path for 2009 Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance projects that include multi-family residential units for IEQ Prerequisite 3: Green Cleaning Policy, IEQ Credit 3.1: Green Cleaning High Performance Cleaning program, and IEQ Credit 3.3: Green Cleaning- Purchase of Sustainable Cleaning Products and Materials using Innovation in Design credit requirements outlined in Formal Inquiry dated 04/08/2004 ID #766 for multi-family New Construction projects. The proposed approach is not acceptable. For IEQ Prerequisite 3: Green Cleaning Policy and IEQc3.1: Green Cleaning-High-Performance Cleaning Program, the green cleaning policy and program includes resident areas. Additional steps should be taken to educate the residents on the green cleaning concepts and recommended products via discussion and written materials upon move-in and periodically thereafter. Examples of acceptable steps could include a written program, a brochure, a coupon for discounted purchase, or a bulk supply of cleaning supplies available at maintenance office. For existing building projects with multi-family spaces attempting IEQ Credit 3.3: Green Cleaning- Purchase of Sustainable Cleaning Products and Materials the percent of total annual purchases must include all cleaning purchases made for the building, regardless of who purchased the products (residents or building staff).Applicable internationally.
Campus Applicable
No
Internationally Applicable:
Yes
LEEDuser expert
Alexis Voeltner
LEED AP O+M, BREEAM In-Use Licensed Assessor, Fitwel Ambassador
UL Solutions
Sustainability Project Manager
