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Putting policy into practice
You’ll lay the groundwork for this credit by developing a green cleaning policy under the prerequisite IEQp3. This credit simply involves enhancing the policy that you’re already required to develop.
All teams should pursue this credit—all you need to do is add a few elements to your green cleaning policy, submit a few extra pieces of documentation, and ensure successful implementation of the policy during the performance period. It may help to think of the green cleaning program requirements as additional components of your green cleaning policy.
One document for both policy and program
Your best bet is to create the policy and the program document all at once—and do it early in the LEED process. There are multiple reasons why it’s a...
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:
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Documentation Toolkit
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12 Comments
Renting vs Owning Mats
I understand you need to outline how you are going to keep the entrances clean, but is there any benefit to opting out of renting mats and instead buying them. Is there documentation to support that renting consumes more energy ie fuel from delivery trucks, harsh chemicals, amount of water etc... in favor for using energy efficient vacuums to clean the mats? Thank you!
Cailey, I'm not aware of documentation on this one way or the other. It does seem like a good in-house green cleaning program would reduce environmental impacts by owning vs. renting.
Chemical Concentrates and Portion-Controlled Dilution
If all of the janitorial cleaning solutions are Green Seal certified/meet the requirements of IEQc3.3 - Sustainable Cleaning Products and Materials, does this portion of the high performance cleaning plan apply to our project? Is the intent of the credit to minimize the use of all chemicals (Green Seal certified included) by introducing appropriate dilution systems into the plan? In essence, is the reference guide stating that all projects attempting this credit IEQc3.1 High Performance Cleaning Plan, must purchase and implement a chemical dilution control equipment/system for proper mixing proportions? Please help clarify.
Good question. LEED isn't requiring that projects purchase chemical dilution control equipment in order to get certified, but they are promoting it as a best practice that should be given serious consideration for a long-term high performance cleaning plan. Proper use of concentrates reduces over-use of cleaning chemicals, saves money, reduces waste from packaging and minimizes the risk of improper storage and spills. If your project doesn't have one of these systems, your plan should either indicate a timeline for adopting the dilution system or thoroughly describe how your chemical management procedures still meet the intent of the credit.
Thanks Jason. This sounds reasonable, as some of the products we have purchased are GS-37 AND compatible for chemical dispensing equipment. Others that were purchased prior to the plan are not GS-37 certified and do not have compatible chemical dispensing equipment. As the reference guide requires "appropriate dilution systems to minimize chemical use wherever possible" it seems that phasing out the use of the non-compatible chemicals and non-GS-37 chemicals in a long term plan would be the best.
campus purchasing of cleaning supplies
Our university campus has a custodial department that purchases cleaning products and materials centrally for all of our buildings. We are employing a green cleaning program and are considering adjusting it to comply with the requirements of LEED EBO&M. This seems like it would be in line with the intent of the green cleaning credits, but tracking how much of each product is used in a specific building would be impossible. Does the campus-wide scenario seem likely to satisfy?
If you can show a campus-wide green cleaning policy that complies with LEED-EBOMEBOM is an acronym for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance, one of the LEED 2009 rating sytems. requirements then I don't foresee any trouble with LEED compliance.
The one caveat I can think of is that you should demonstrate in some way that the specific project building gets the same green cleaning treatment as all the buildings. For example, if your policy were that 30% of cleaning product purchases were sustainable, but it happened for some logistical reason that 5% of the products actually used in the project building were sustainable, you wouldn't be meeting the credit intent or requirements.
Number of Cleaning Days
I see no reaosn that a cleaning contractor cannot provide services on a 3 day per week basis, assuming a 5 day work week. As long as cleanliness levels are maintained at an APPA level of 3 or greater, do you know of any reason why this could not be implemented?
From the point of view of LEED, I don't see any obstacle to this. The credit doesn't require a certain number of days of cleaning per week, if that's what you're checking. I don't even think there's a requirement in LEED to maintain a specific APPA level, as you suggest. Am I missing something?
Thanks Tristan. IEQ Credit 3.2 in LEED EB O&M is based on achieving an APPA score of 3 or less. Facilities that score 2 or less can achieve an additional credit by way of 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.. This is referenced on page 437 of LEED EB O&M 2009.
Thanks again for your help.
Very true, I was thinking about the general cleaning program for IEQc3.1, not the APPA requirement under IEQc3.2.
My answer would still hold, though, that if you can maintain cleanliness with 3 cleanings a week, you're fine.
Helpful Link
Link to a good commissioning information source:
http://www.cacx.org/resources/rcxtools/templates_samples.html
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