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Implement an IAQ management program
This credit requires you to develop and implement an ongoing indoor air quality (IAQIndoor air quality: The quality and attributes of indoor air affecting the health and comfort building occupants. IAQ encompasses available fresh air, contaminant levels, acoustics and noise levels, lighting quality, and other factors.) management program, with the intent of maintaining good IAQ and preventing problems. The credit should be no- or low-cost to implement, and is non-technical in nature. Any project team would do well to consider attempting it.
Using I-BEAM
Central to the credit is the EPA Indoor Air Quality Building Education and Assessment Model (I-...
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11 Comments
IEQ 1.1 - Pest management emergency case
Dear all,
we´re currently working on a certification of highrise office building.
In our revised pest management policy we should state which emergency case condition has to occure that pesticides may be applied on the grounds without complying with the earlier stipulations for use of integrated and least-toxic methods. Has anybody a suggestion what emergency condition is ment? Any information can be very helpful. Thanks in advance.
Hatice, you'll find more information on what is meant about the emergency protocols, and language on describing that, on our SSc3 page. Sorry for the slow response, by the way. I hope this helps.
I Beam Survey
I look through the I Beam program (hope is did not miss out anything) and would like to ask few question here.
Q1 : do we need to do 100% survey (I Beam) for project we work on?
Q2 : When we need to start the I Beam Program? During or before performance period?
Q3: How many individual are encourage to join the I Beam Program at the day of the survey? for example , during the survey, 1 engineer will be good enough to do the program himself? If yes, then we can ask few engineer to difference floor to do the program at the same day as to save time.
Thanks
The I-BEAM survey materials try to address any possible scenario, so you can use some discretion when you conduct the walkthrough. The audit should be fully completed, but if there are questions or areas that do not apply to your project building, you may simply indicate "not applicable". You should identify a member of your project team as the IAQIndoor air quality: The quality and attributes of indoor air affecting the health and comfort building occupants. IAQ encompasses available fresh air, contaminant levels, acoustics and noise levels, lighting quality, and other factors. Manager before the start of your performance period. Make it clear that their responsibilities for this role will not end when the LEED project is finished; periodic inspections should continue to take place after the initial audit is completed. The initial audit must take place during the performance period and any problems that can be addressed at no cost must be remedied immediately; for this reason, you should try to conduct the audit at least a few weeks prior to the end of your performance period so that you leave yourself enough time to correct these problems. It would be acceptable to have multiple engineers audit different floors of the building to save time; however, you must still identify a lead staff person as the IAQ Manager and make sure that they coordinate all of the efforts and collate all of the audit results into a single final report. It would also be a good idea to train each engineer in such a way so that the same methodology is used to conduct each of the audits; this will ensure that a standardized approach is used throughout the entire project building.
Thanks Jason, i do have another question as well.
We working on a commercial building with different tenant in each floor or sharing the same floor, the question is, do we need to do the survey at each tenant space or a random selection?
Besides that,
after identifying the problem , a schedule plan will be put in place (budget and, schedule to repair found issues) and i presume such report need to submit as a prove that we work on I BEAM, am i correct?
Well, the I-BEAM audit is designed to be an analysis of the entire project building, specifically the mechanical spaces, so you need to look at as much of the building as possible. It's not a survey so much as it is a building walkthrough. LEED allows you to exclude up to 10% of your gross floor areaGross floor area (based on ASHRAE definition) is the sum of the floor areas of the spaces within the building, including basements, mezzanine and intermediate‐floored tiers, and penthouses wi th headroom height of 7.5 ft (2.2 meters) or greater. Measurements m ust be taken from the exterior 39 faces of exterior walls OR from the centerline of walls separating buildings, OR (for LEED CI certifying spaces) from the centerline of walls separating spaces. Excludes non‐en closed (or non‐enclosable) roofed‐over areas such as exterior covered walkways, porches, terraces or steps, roof overhangs, and similar features. Excludes air shafts, pipe trenches, and chimneys. Excludes floor area dedicated to the parking and circulation of motor vehicles. ( Note that while excluded features may not be part of the gross floor area, and therefore technically not a part of the LEED project building, they may still be required to be a part of the overall LEED project and subject to MPRs, prerequisites, and credits.), so you can take that into consideration if you have one or more tenants who are not cooperative.
Yes, you will need to include a copy of the finished I-BEAM audit, as well as a narrative explaining how repairs or other corrective actions were handled.
In regards to the I-BEAM audit, to our understanding, one baseline audit needs to be conducted within the performance period, and on-going audits are recommended to be performed "periodic." Is there a specific requirement or recommendation on how often an audit should be performed as part of the policy or plan language?
No specific requirement, so the project team is free to determine their own definition of periodic. I'd recommend, at minimum, that the audits are performed on an annual basis.
That sounds reasonable. Thank you for the input, Jason.
I-BEAM
This is an interesting credit point with little information besides a reference to the EPA I-BEAM. There seems to be a wide range of responses to the challenges set forth in obtaining this credit point.
On one end of the spectrum LEEDuser provides advice to hire a professional IAQIndoor air quality: The quality and attributes of indoor air affecting the health and comfort building occupants. IAQ encompasses available fresh air, contaminant levels, acoustics and noise levels, lighting quality, and other factors. consultant. On the other end, advice is given to simply have the I-BEAM survey conducted by any in-house staff with free time. That's my first concern - it really can't be both easy and complex at the same time to conduct this type of building survey.
I've been considering the IEQ/IAQ aspect of LEED for some time I'm still somewhat perplexed as to how LEED views IAQ. It may simply follow the nuanced variations and approach of Industrial Hygiene, Environmental Science, and Environmental Engineering to Indoor Air and Occupancy issues. If anyone can enlighten me, or at the very least answer a few questions I'll pose at the end of this comment, I will greatly appreciate it.
Clearly, EPA utilized a staff that probably included at least one Professional Engineer to prepare their I-BEAM program. At the very least, by referencing ASHRAE standards, we can presume I-BEAM was essentially created from the perspective of an engineer. I'm a Certified Industrial Hygienist and recently obtained my LEED AP. I have as yet to submit for this credit point.
First, a technical question, is it necessary to examine every HVAC component or is a representative survey and examination sufficient? The commercial buildings I work numerous floors, mechanical rooms, and hundreds of VAVVariable Air Volume (VAV) is an HVAC conservation feature that supplies varying quantities of conditioned (heated or cooled) air to different parts of a building according to the heating and cooling needs of those specific areas. boxes, for example.
I have a lot of experience with conducting IAQ surveys. While my surveys include many elements of I-BEAM, I've never specifically used I-BEAM and I'm not aware of any CIH or IAQ consultant who routinely uses I-BEAM.
Second Question, on the presumption that IAQ consultants do not use I-BEAM, how is it that LEED requires I-BEAM and suggests that anyone on staff with basic knowledge of HVAC and building systems or who reviews some modules about these topics, is qualified to complete the IAQ I-BEAM survey for this credit point? If you are an IAQ consultant who routinely uses I-BEAM outside of this LEED requirement, I'll be glad to hear from you.
That's it. Thank you.
Hi Michael,
The EBOMEBOM is an acronym for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance, one of the LEED 2009 rating sytems. Rating system is geared toward both the relatively easy (encouraging good practices where the practice does not already exist) and the complex (adding additional analysis to those project teams that already perform basic IAQIndoor air quality: The quality and attributes of indoor air affecting the health and comfort building occupants. IAQ encompasses available fresh air, contaminant levels, acoustics and noise levels, lighting quality, and other factors. practices).
In terms of your more general inquiries regarding LEED and IEQ/IAQ, I don't know much about the history of its development, but I just know what's needed for submittal.
Really the submittal comes down to the following elements:
- the summary report of the IAQ audit results, including a summary of the audit procedures for indoor spaces, exterior spaces, and HVAC systems.
- Then for each protocol pursued, a thorough description of the methods to control pollutant sources (as noted on page 357 of the LRG).
- evidence of a procedure for collecting and responding to occupants’ IAQ-related complaints
- a description of how the IAQ manager executes a periodic inspection program
So to answer the first question (in all hopes):
As the key requirement is to develop and implement on an ongoing basis an IAQ management program, every component must be addressed at some point. The baseline audit should identify key problem areas and then grow from there to be implemented in the on-going maintenance and IAQ inspection program.
So if a representative survey and examination of all components in one HVAC system is finding IAQ-related issues, then the baseline should be opened up to include all of the building's HVAC system components. The summary report would therefore include a thorough description of the audit procedures and findings, followed by an adjusted set of procedures based on the initial findings.
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