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New or existing hardscapes?
This credit is fairly straightforward and easy to achieve if you are newly creating all the hardscapes. You may comply by applying prescriptive design measures outlined by LEED to 50% of your site’s hardscape, or by covering 50% of your project's parking spaces.
There can be added costs and labor if your project needs to modify existing hardscapes to meet the prescriptive goals of the credit: for example, taking out a black asphalt parking lot to install a more reflective material.
When dealing with existing hardscapes, it may be more cost-effective to shade areas with trees and architectural canopies than to replace them. This credit can be unattainable if your project’s hardscapes do not already comply and you do not have control over the design of hardscapes. ...
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20 Comments
Skylights are included in non roof hardscape surface?
Hi everyone,
I’m working on a project registered under LEED 2009 C&S Rating System. In my project’s internal courtyard, there are some skylights for lighting and ventilation of the technical rooms placed into the building basement. Am I required to count them through my non-roof hardscape surface calculation? I understood that skylights are not included in roof surface calculation, but I couldn’t find a similar exemption definition for non roof surfaces.
Thank you in advance!
No I would not them in your non roof hardscape surfaces as they are just glass.
What is wrong with the submittal template?
1) There is a bug in the template. It adds "square footage" and "number of parking spaces" together!
2) We stick with Option 2 (50% spaces under cover) and plan to go for EP, but it wants us to fill in the table of roof coverage and there I can see a problem.
Reference guide says: To earn exemplary performanceIn LEED, certain credits have established thresholds beyond basic credit achievement. Meeting these thresholds can earn additional points through Innovation in Design (ID) or Innovation in Operations (IO) points. As a general rule of thumb, ID credits for exemplary performance are awarded for doubling the credit requirements and/or achieving the next incremental percentage threshold. However, this rule varies on a case by case basis, so check the credit requirements. point put all the parking spaces under cover. Under cover means underground, under roof, under deck or under building. So far so good.
We have a 2-story underground garage, that is partially covered by building, vegetated surface and hardscapes. All garage spaces are in the underground so it should be a piece of cake, but... according to this template it is not so obvious.
When it comes to asphalt driveways on terrain (only drop off zone) it will hardly comply with SRIThe solar reflectance index (SRI) is a measure of a material's ability to reject solar heat, as shown by a small temperature rise. Standard black (reflectance 0.05, emittance 0.90) is 0 and standard white (reflectance 0.80, emittance 0.90) is 100. For example, a standard black surface has a temperature rise of 90_F (50_C) in full sun, and a standard white surface has a temperature rise of 14.6_F (8.1_C). Once the maximum temperature rise of a given material has been computed, the SRI can be calculated by interpolating between the values for white and black. Materials with the highest SRI values are the coolest choices for paving. Because of the way SRI is defined, particularly hot materials can even take slightly negative values, and particularly cool materials can even exceed 100.>29. Does it mean, that those parking spaces under the roadway do not comply and therefore we cannot earn EP? It is still in the underground... Question is, if the garage roof coverage (partially vegetated and covered with asphalt and hardscapes) which is in the same level with surrounding terrain should be considered as "roof". It has impact on other credits as well (SSc7.2, SSc5.1, SSc5.2...). Nothing seems to be as obvious as it was at the begining...
... this is too long post. I'll cut it a bit.
What if "underground" garage footprint is larger than footprint of the building above terrain? Is the difference area between those two footprints considered a"roof" of the garage so SRIThe solar reflectance index (SRI) is a measure of a material's ability to reject solar heat, as shown by a small temperature rise. Standard black (reflectance 0.05, emittance 0.90) is 0 and standard white (reflectance 0.80, emittance 0.90) is 100. For example, a standard black surface has a temperature rise of 90_F (50_C) in full sun, and a standard white surface has a temperature rise of 14.6_F (8.1_C). Once the maximum temperature rise of a given material has been computed, the SRI can be calculated by interpolating between the values for white and black. Materials with the highest SRI values are the coolest choices for paving. Because of the way SRI is defined, particularly hot materials can even take slightly negative values, and particularly cool materials can even exceed 100.>29 rule applies here?
Petr,
Sorry for not responding to this sooner. I believe you will not be able to include the parking spaces that are covered by SRIThe solar reflectance index (SRI) is a measure of a material's ability to reject solar heat, as shown by a small temperature rise. Standard black (reflectance 0.05, emittance 0.90) is 0 and standard white (reflectance 0.80, emittance 0.90) is 100. For example, a standard black surface has a temperature rise of 90_F (50_C) in full sun, and a standard white surface has a temperature rise of 14.6_F (8.1_C). Once the maximum temperature rise of a given material has been computed, the SRI can be calculated by interpolating between the values for white and black. Materials with the highest SRI values are the coolest choices for paving. Because of the way SRI is defined, particularly hot materials can even take slightly negative values, and particularly cool materials can even exceed 100.<29 material ie the asphalt. In the template you should input the different types of materials with the parking spaces it covers. Then enter the number of spaces covered by vegetated roof, and number of spaces underground.
Hope that helps.
shade
Can shade of the building itself be counted towards the credit?
Emmanuel, architecture devices with an SRIThe solar reflectance index (SRI) is a measure of a material's ability to reject solar heat, as shown by a small temperature rise. Standard black (reflectance 0.05, emittance 0.90) is 0 and standard white (reflectance 0.80, emittance 0.90) is 100. For example, a standard black surface has a temperature rise of 90_F (50_C) in full sun, and a standard white surface has a temperature rise of 14.6_F (8.1_C). Once the maximum temperature rise of a given material has been computed, the SRI can be calculated by interpolating between the values for white and black. Materials with the highest SRI values are the coolest choices for paving. Because of the way SRI is defined, particularly hot materials can even take slightly negative values, and particularly cool materials can even exceed 100. higher than 29 are allowed, per the credit language above.
What sort of area are you thinking of?
Combining option 1 and 2
Hi
Of all 60 parking spaces only one is located above ground. We really want to put open-grid paving as material for this parking space that is not under ground. As we are so close we want to go for the exemplary performanceIn LEED, certain credits have established thresholds beyond basic credit achievement. Meeting these thresholds can earn additional points through Innovation in Design (ID) or Innovation in Operations (IO) points. As a general rule of thumb, ID credits for exemplary performance are awarded for doubling the credit requirements and/or achieving the next incremental percentage threshold. However, this rule varies on a case by case basis, so check the credit requirements. by combining option 1 and 2; using a material that compliance with option 1 and putting almost all of the parking spaces under ground wich compliance with option 2. The result is the same: reduce the heat islans effect. Do you think the project can earn exemplary performance by doing this?
Mathilda, I would say that this is a logical approach and should, in my mind, qualify you for EP. However, these two options are typically not allowed to be combined, so it's not a standard approach, and it may not work out. I would give it a shot and let us know how you fare.
Building footprint vs. hardscape
Would entry stairs to the building be considered part of the building footprintBuilding footprint is the area on a project site used by the building structure, defined by the perimeter of the building plan. Parking lots, parking garages, landscapes, and other nonbuilding facilities are not included in the building footprint., or part of the site hardscape? Thanks.
Erica, I could see it going either way depending on the design of the building, but probably in most cases the stairs would be site hardscape.
All parking underground but one..
Hi!
My project has all parking spaces underground exept for one handicap parking that's situated at the court yard. We really want to go for exemplary performanceIn LEED, certain credits have established thresholds beyond basic credit achievement. Meeting these thresholds can earn additional points through Innovation in Design (ID) or Innovation in Operations (IO) points. As a general rule of thumb, ID credits for exemplary performance are awarded for doubling the credit requirements and/or achieving the next incremental percentage threshold. However, this rule varies on a case by case basis, so check the credit requirements. point and put all under cover. The landscape architecht wants to install an pergola over the parking space on the court yard. Does this count towards this credit?
Yes, the Reference Guide says that parking spaces must all be "under cover," so this is possible. It must have an SRIThe solar reflectance index (SRI) is a measure of a material's ability to reject solar heat, as shown by a small temperature rise. Standard black (reflectance 0.05, emittance 0.90) is 0 and standard white (reflectance 0.80, emittance 0.90) is 100. For example, a standard black surface has a temperature rise of 90_F (50_C) in full sun, and a standard white surface has a temperature rise of 14.6_F (8.1_C). Once the maximum temperature rise of a given material has been computed, the SRI can be calculated by interpolating between the values for white and black. Materials with the highest SRI values are the coolest choices for paving. Because of the way SRI is defined, particularly hot materials can even take slightly negative values, and particularly cool materials can even exceed 100. of at least 29.
Thank you for your response. I wasn't very clear with my question; the pergola will have a roof of plants that will give the parking space shade. So that's why I'm concern, because the roof will not be "solid". However the reference guide says that shading from trees etc is ok, that's why I'm wondering if shade from plants on a pergola is ok as well.
Heat Island Effect--Project Boundary
This may be more of a question about how to draw the project boundary in general, but here goes: we are doing a major renovation of a building, sitework, and some work (repaving, etc) on another building on the same campus that contains our parking garage but also has office floors that are not in our scope of work. This stacked garage is where everyone parks, so I am submitting us for Heat-Island Effect Nonroof. My question is: does that mean that I now have to include everything we are doing to the garage in the rest of my documentation? (e.g. does it get included in the energy model? Do I need to demonstrate that low-VOC paints were used on it? etc) It would be wrong to say at the end of the project that the building that contains the parking garage is LEED certified, and Core & Shell doesn't allow me to certify part of a building, so it seems odd that I'd have to include all of the work into the LEED work. Please advise!
Sara, I think the answer to your question is contained in the LEED MPR supplemental guidance, page 14 (under "Facilities (including parking) outside the LEED project boundary used for compliance with specific credits").
The answer as I read it is that you can pursue this credit without having to consider other credits.
Utilizing an existing parking garage
The project I am involved with now has no parking on site. It is all mandated by the city to use the parking garage a block away. Can this be used to achieve this credit, option 2 parking under cover or does the parking have to be handled on site?
I would say that to meet the requirements of this credit, you would have to include the parking garage within your LEED boundary, which seems unlikely here.
SRI Values
I have a question about determining the SRIThe solar reflectance index (SRI) is a measure of a material's ability to reject solar heat, as shown by a small temperature rise. Standard black (reflectance 0.05, emittance 0.90) is 0 and standard white (reflectance 0.80, emittance 0.90) is 100. For example, a standard black surface has a temperature rise of 90_F (50_C) in full sun, and a standard white surface has a temperature rise of 14.6_F (8.1_C). Once the maximum temperature rise of a given material has been computed, the SRI can be calculated by interpolating between the values for white and black. Materials with the highest SRI values are the coolest choices for paving. Because of the way SRI is defined, particularly hot materials can even take slightly negative values, and particularly cool materials can even exceed 100. values for our building's hardscapes. Generally majority of our parking is covered in either solar panels or light grey concrete. I was wondering how do we determine the actual SRI value of the building materials to be able to successfully input in the required templates for LEED Online?
Rey, please review the steps described in the Checklists tab for this credit, above, and let me know what specific questions you have. (That's simply a good place to start.)
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