-
Optimized lighting leads to optimal performance
This credit promotes efficient, high-performance lighting systems through increased controllability for building occupants. Allowing individuals control over the lighting levels in their workspaces can enhance their comfort, productivity, satisfaction, and overall wellbeing.
Better lighting controls can also increase the efficiency of your lighting system by focusing on task lighting rather than unnecessary ambient lightingLighting in a space that provides for general wayfinding and visual comfort, in contrast to task lighting, which illuminates a defined area to facilitate specific visual work., and can reduce energy use due to cooling loads by allowing...
Step-by-step credit help
Got the gist of the LEED credit but not sure how to actually achieve it? LEEDuser gives step-by-step help. 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 on useful items from the Documentation Toolkit, Resources, and Credit Language.
-
Credit language straight from USGBC
Need to check up on the exact LEED credit language from the LEED Rating System on the fly? LEEDuser includes the verbatim language. Members get:
- Easy access to the official LEED credit language with just a couple of clicks.
- On the jobsite without your bulky LEED Reference Guide? Check up on the credit language details here.
- Credit language content is used by permission of the U.S. Green Building Council.
Your credit-by-credit reference library
Why waste time chasing down referenced standards and supporting resources when LEEDuser links you directly to the ones you need? LEEDuser has gathered all the best tools out there and organized them by credit for easy reference. Members get links to:
- Organizations that can give information or help on a credit.
- Standards or studies that are key reference points for credits and prerequisites.
- Articles that help explain important topics.
- Key documents or references for credit inputs.
- Software tools you can use to run calculations or simulations.
Documentation Toolkit
In the end, LEED is all about documentation. LEEDuser’s Documentation Toolkit 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.
26 Comments
Controls for open-floor plan
Our project is following CI-2009 guidelines. What lighting controls would be sufficient for offices with open floor plans? Could a "cluster" (an "island") of 6 tables linked together be considered as one "workspace with individual controls". Would a dimmer that controls a few lamps hanging above that "island" satisfy LEED requirements? What is usually meant by "multiple mode" lighting control? Individual lamps for each table are too expensive for this project. Thank you.
Diana, When you say 6 tables do these 6 tables have 6 people sitting at them? If so, you would need those 6 people to have controllability of their own individual lighting and not just general lighting of the cluster. Does the dimmer allow for a variance in lighting over the 6 tables or does it change them all at once?
If you have 6 tables, but really only 3 people that sit there and rotate in and out depending on the day then I think you can possibly make a case for calling it 3 workstations. It's mostly in how you describe and make your case through your documentation that matters. Reviewers will be looking to see a match between furniture layout and controls. For instance, desks are often an indicator to a reviewer that that desk should have its own control.
Good luck.
Lauren, thank you for your response. Our "cluster" of 6 tables will be occupied by 6 people working on different things at the same time. So, one dimmer that changes lighting all at once cannot be considered sufficient enough control to get this credit. All clear. Thank you again.
No problem, Diana...yes, I think that's right. As I'm sure you're aware, even if you cannot get the point some degree of controllability is always nice to provide.
Occupancy sensors: valid lighting control?
I have an individually occupied "office" (kind of like a coat-check, really) that for some reason was built with only an occupancy sensor and no wall switch. Does the occupancy sensor count as a lighting control for the occupant?
The intent of the credit is that individuals may want different light levels based on what they are doing, and based on what their individual needs are. Some people need more light to read, some want lower light for AV reasons, and others can read effectively in lower light levels (like my kids do!). So an occupancy sensor doesn't give the individuals the ability to control the lights. In addition, an occ sensor with an override still leaves only two levels - on or off - which LEED reviewers have said in the past is not enough to qualify as "controllability." You may make the argument if it is a perimeter space that an occ sensor override with operable blinds at the windows is offering everyone some adjustability, but I have not seen that successfully argued.
Hi Amanda,
Yeah, I'd suggest making the case that it's not a regularly occupied space. For instance, I don't believe a coat check area is a regularly occupied "office" but I guess I could be missing some details. Is someone sitting at the coat check during running hours? Or, like Jonathan said, I'd adjust the light switches to include manual overrides to help accomplish the requirements. Occupancy sensors help meet goals of energy efficiency but, unfortunately, don't meet the intent of EQc6.1 which is all about controllability for occupants.
Lauren
Daylighting
Daylighting is mentioned as a method for meeting the credit requirement of a lighting control. Our project is an open plan with a small number of work stations all within 20 feet of the window. The workstations are in clusters of 4 (8 total people) and there are blinds on the windows. The blinds are about 4 feet wide and there are 6 of them. Can we count each blind as a light control or is there some other method for counting this?
Hi Sam,
I have never seen a project approach EQc6.1 compliance through the sole use of daylight. I have only seen the use of operable windows for meeting EQc6.2. Daylighting can be part of your overall lighting strategy in that you can reduce your ambient lightingLighting in a space that provides for general wayfinding and visual comfort, in contrast to task lighting, which illuminates a defined area to facilitate specific visual work. levels for spaces if you have task lights and daylight incorporated into your design.
Where in the Reference Guide do you see that daylighting is a means toward compliance? Have others on LEEDuser, tried submitting through blind controls of windows?
Best,
Lauren
Controllability of Systems- Lighting Documentation
How do I go about providing documentation to meet this credit. I am working on a fit out project for a new office. There are roughly 900 cubes with task lighting at each cube, offices with switches/ occupancy sensors and conference rooms with switches / occupancy sensors. Can I upload my electrical engineer's drawings showing all of these things?
We always submit the detail of the furniture showing the task lights in the cubes and lighting drawings with highlighted switches /dimmer switch. Our architectural drawings include the furniture to allow the reviewer to verify the count.
Hi Robert,
I would show a furniture layout plan and I would upload an electrical plan. If the task lighting is incorporated into the cubicle than I'd upload the cutsheet for that cubicle showing the task light. If the task light is separate, than I'd upload the cut sheet of that separate task light. It sounds like you're in excellent shape for achievement of the credit. Remember that other "individual workstations" beyond cubicles might need to be included such as a receptionist's desk. Also, remember that occupancy sensors do not assist with compliance but simple light switches do. This credits all about the occupants having control over their space.
Good luck,
Lauren
Wall Switches No Longer Good Enough in Private Offices
We submitted a project with several private offices equipped with manual on/off wall switching for the overhead lamps, which was a strategy always accepted on our NCv2.2 projects and was also accepted on a previous CI 2009 project. In our design prelim review, the credit was kicked back noting that the wall switches were not adequate to meet the credit intent. I checked the 2009 reference guide and the language leans towards requiring task lighting (i.e. desk lamps) in all the private offices, without accepting the good old on/off wall switch anymore - has anyone else run into this yet?
Kimberley
We haven't come across this situation in any of our CI projects, yet. It is understood that the wall on/off switch in a private office should suffice the credit requirements as long as the space occupied by only one person. The reference guide does have the suggestion to include task lights for individual controls, but may not be a requirement as a basis of rejecting the credit. I would request a revised review from GBCI with the complete explanation of how each private office is to be occupied by only one person who has full control of the lights in the room. Maybe the detailed narrative will do the trick. Good luck!
Hi Kimberly and Shillpa,
I agree with Shillpa in that, I too, believe that one light switch provided for a private office is sufficient. The reviewer may have misunderstood the context.
The acceptability of on/off switches for private offices has not changed from LEEDv2.2 and LEEDv2009.
Good luck!
Lauren
EQc6.1 for multi-occupant spaces
Does anyone know if multi-occupant spacesConference rooms, classrooms and other indoor spaces used as a place of congregation for presentations, trainings, etc. Individuals using these spaces share the lighting and temperature controls and they should have, at a minimum, a separate zone with accessible thermostat and an air-flow control. Group multi-occupant spaces do not include open office plans that contain individual workstations. such as exhibit spaces or lecture rooms without occupant control can be exempted from this credit?
It seems that this credit addresses only the typical office use.
We have a LEED-CI project with several of these highly controlled rooms where we cannot give visitors controls over lighting.
Hi Michele,
It's true that LEED was originally designed for office spaces and it doesn't always play nicely with other kinds of project types. That being said, I'd take a peek at LEED for Schools because it sounds like you have a similar situation where it makes sense for certain people to have access to controls but not all. For instance, LEED for schools states that classrooms need to provide a lighting system that operates in at least 2 modes: general illumination and A/V. Do your exhibit spaces have multiple control capabilities?
I'd submit a narrative describing the role of these highly controlled rooms and describe how certain indiduals are in charge of the controls. Stress how many control settings exist for the few that can control them.
Good luck.
Lauren
Documented this for a student center on a college campus where only the facilities personnel - not the students - had access to the lighting controls and there was no problem. There were variable settings via controls.
EQc6.1 for enclosed offices
Per a NCv2.2 CIRCredit Interpretation Ruling. Used by design team members experiencing difficulties in the application of a LEED prerequisite or credit to a project. Typically, difficulties arise when specific issues are not directly addressed by LEED information/guide ruling (copied below), multi-level overhead lighting is sufficient to meet the EQc6.1 individual control requirement in enclosed offices, in lieu of task lights. The credit requirement has not changed in the 2009 rating systems, but of course the CIR ruling no longer applies. Any word on whether multi-level overhead lighting is an acceptable form of individual control in private offices for 2009 projects?
_______________
6/11/2007 - Credit Interpretation Request
Our facility is a college science building with personal office spaces, lecture rooms, and laboratories. The question is in reference to the requirement to provide individual lighting controls for 90% (minimum) of the building occupants. For individual office spaces, does overhead, locally-controlled, multi-level lighting in each individual office meet the requirement to enable adjustment to suit the task needs and preferences?
7/2/2007 - Ruling
The overhead, locally-controlled, multi-level lighting in each individual office meets the definition of individual lighting control as long as the lighting designer declares that this design enables adjustment to suit task needs and preferences.
Hi Megan,
Yes, multi-level overhead lighting is sufficient to meet the requirements of EQc6.1 for individual offices. Any form of a light control in an individual office would be sufficient; often this is achieved with just one light switch for one office space. It gets a little more tricky if you have a couple employees per office or in an open office work enviornment.
But, one light switch and one office space results in 100% controllability for that space.
Lauren
In the past we have not had issues with enclosed offices being considered meeting this credit. However, I believe you will see increased emphasis on the fixture light output being adjustable. If the overhead fixtures are simply on/off, that does not appear to meet the intent of the requirement to adjust lighting to meet needs.
Permanently Installed vs Task Lighting
Ashrae 90.1 the standard for EA1.1 seems to govern only "permanently installed fixtures". I'm taking that to exclude desk lamps. If so is it kosher to reduce installed lighting to get credits under EA1.1 and provide desk lamps to earn IEQ6.1 without counting them in the LPDLighting power density (LPD) is the amount of electric lighting, usually measured in watts per square foot, being used to illuminate a given space. for EA1.1?
Hi Christopher,
Interestingly enough, this came up recently for one of our projects.
My understanding is that you are correct. It's a little different in California. In CA, I am told that Title-24 2005 requires you to include task lights in your LPDLighting power density (LPD) is the amount of electric lighting, usually measured in watts per square foot, being used to illuminate a given space. calculation.
I think it meets the intent of EAc1.1, in general, to provide a lower LPD with the use of task lights. Page 155 of the LEED-CI Reference Guide actually notes that task lighting may be used to supplement general lighting. On a side note, I think EAc1.4 is intended to address the plug loads but unfortunately only includes equipment and appliances.
Lauren
While in the past we were able to not include task lighting for some projects, this is no longer the case. Task lighting must be included unless occupancy sensors are provided.
No, Christopher. I have just been denied EA cr1.1 until I provide additional information on all of the "permanently installed" task lighting to be used in the space. Although I would have understood this in order to maintain consistency with EA cr6.1, we did not claim the task lighting under that credit either. So you need to do it either way.
Hi Amanda,
Does it mean that all task lighting that is submitted for IEQ 6.1 should also be included in the LPDLighting power density (LPD) is the amount of electric lighting, usually measured in watts per square foot, being used to illuminate a given space. calculation for EA Cr 1.1 even if it is table lamps (plug load and not fixed task lighting) ?
Please advice.
Please register to use the forum.