EBOM 2009 MRc4: Sustainable Purchasing—Reduced Mercury in Lamps

I think you've got it - there's not a NEMA label or certification or anything that lamps must have, just that they fall under the mercury thresholds established by NEMA.

Blas, Only CFL1. Compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) – light source in which the tube is folded or twisted into a spiral to concentrate the light output; CFLs are typically 3 to 4 times as efficient as incandescent light bulbs, and they last 8 to 10 times as long. 2. Small fluorescent lamps used as more efficient alternatives to incandescent lighting. Also called PL, CFL, Twin-Tube, or BIAX lamps. (EPA) 3. A light bulb designed to replace screw-in incandescent light bulbs; they are often found in table lamps, wall sconces, and hall and ceiling fixtures of commercial buildings with residential type lights. They combine the efficiency of fluorescent lighting with the convenience of standard incandescent bulbs. Light is produced the same way as other fluorescent lamps. Compact fluorescent bulbs have either electronic or magnetic ballasts.'s with screw bases and integral ballasts that meet NEMA standards are exempt. These are the kind that replace traditional incandescent lamps in the old fixtures.

A newer CFL fixture where the ballast is separate from the lamp and the lamp has pins will require you to meet the listed 90 picogramA picogram is 1 trillionth of a gram. level average.

Expect the mg limits in LEED 2012 to be lowered to the NEMA 2010 level of 4mg and 5mg.
http://www.nema.org/gov/env_conscious_design/lamps/cfl-mercury.cfm

Check out page 286 in the reference guide that says...
1) No to this first question. mercury containing only
2) The purchasing plan is an inventory of your current lamps and the goal of that is defining the total picograms hopefully under 90. If the existing lamps dont meet that than you have to identify replacement options for going forward and preferably during the performance period.
Hope this helps - Jeff

One caveat to #1...in some cases it is acceptable and advantageous to include non-mercury containing lamps in the tables. LEED allows for the inclusion of mercury-free high efficiency lamps (such as LEDs), which will lower your overall picogramA picogram is 1 trillionth of a gram. per lumen1. A lumen is a unit of luminous flux equal to the light emitted in a unit solid angle by a uniform point source of 1 candle intensity. 2. A measurement of light output. hour level. You would not include standard efficiency non-mercury lamps though, such as incandescents. Check out p. 285 in the Reference Guide under the Implementation section for more info.

Hi Molly, of course you can! That's one of the non-direct intents of the credit. Take a look at page 285 in the reference guide.

Update! I just went back in the table this a.m. and it’s at 66.3. The LEED online adobe form must not refresh/update quickly or there was some type of bug last night because I tried editing a few times and the total was not refreshing. Problem seems to be resolved now! thanks!

I am not sure as to why this is relevant. You don't have to include LEDs in the inventory and LEDs don't contain mercury, so the calculation of picogramA picogram is 1 trillionth of a gram. per lumen1. A lumen is a unit of luminous flux equal to the light emitted in a unit solid angle by a uniform point source of 1 candle intensity. 2. A measurement of light output. hour per bulb wouldn't apply. Instead you would count them as zero picograms if you are purchasing during the performance period. Does anybody else see this differently?

The building is actually a major renovation project going for Low Mercury Lighting as an ID credit for a LEED NC certification. So there is no performance period. We are documenting all the new lights purchased, which includes the LED fixtures and the existing fixtures (that are mostly exterior pole lamps). We actually just got a response to an inquiry from GBCI stating the each LED "strip" would be considered one bulb.

"The plan must require that at least 90% of purchased lamps comply with the target (as measured by the number of lamps)."

Is it true that The only lamps this credit is applicable are the fluorescent lamps ? The project that i am working on is LEED CI. We are trying to get an ID credit for Low Mercury lamps. As of now we only have two types of lamps that are Low mercury and they are fluorescent lamps. Does low mercury apply to other lamps as well?

Hi Sheela - Just a quick note on your original question. Bill's response is accurate but I'm not sure it leads to the right conclusion. The 'target' under discussion is the overall picogramA picogram is 1 trillionth of a gram./lumen1. A lumen is a unit of luminous flux equal to the light emitted in a unit solid angle by a uniform point source of 1 candle intensity. 2. A measurement of light output.-hour average for all the bulbs - it is not a per-bulb limit on mercury content. You must indeed include 90% of your bulbs in this calculation, but in many instances a large number of bulbs which are conventional mercury content are offset by a similar number of bulbs which are low-mercury. For example, a building with only 2 bulbs can be compliant by having both bulbs under 90 pg/l-h or by having one bulb at 100 pg/l-h and the other bulb at 79 pg/l-h (which averages to less than 90). In the latter example, you are analyzing 100% of your bulbs, but obviously half your bulbs are not low-mercury. Hope that helps a bit.

Dan

Great question. As you are conducting a LEED NC in the one single building in theory you should only need to cover the EB portion with compliant purchasing of all the light bulbs in that one single building. (I'm leaving aside the fact that the reviewers may or may not pass this as an ID credit). However in practice this may not feasible as you will have compliant and non compliant light bulbs in operations storage and making certain that ONLY compliant bulbs are used in your building may be un-enforceable. Better to encourage a full campus wide MR credit compliance to overcome this possibility, even though it will be a tremendous task.

Emily I would include any fixtures within the LEED Project Boundary, including exterior lights. We've earned this as an Innovation credit many times, including on campuses and military bases that have existing purchasing contracts that limit the selection of replacement bulbs. You can develop a suggested purchasing plan for replacement lamps for all of the lighting fixtures, and have the campus facilities department review/approve the plan. Obviously, you might want to check with them first to see what typical manufacturer(s) they use currently.

Unless I'm missing something here the point of this credit is what you PURCHASE not what you REPLACE. There is absolutely no way the USGBC wants you to remove any bulbs or fittings (ie, unlike other credits they really don't want you spending any money here!) just commit to purchasing compliant bulbs

You might get some questions since this is a very rare situation. The only electric lighting I know of without any mercury in the lamps is incandescent lamps and LED lamps. I have only heard of two LEED buildings ever built like this. I know it's possible but it's also uncommon. Don't be suprised if the reviewer asks for some more information. Then just explain what type of lighting was used where.

I would recommend looking at the documentation required for EBOMEBOM is an acronym for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance, one of the LEED 2009 rating sytems. MRp1 and MRc4 including the sample credit forms and any required uploads in LEED Online version 3. The way we pursue the Green Housekeeping credit for LEED NC 2009 projects is by documenting that the project is complying with the EBOM IEQp3 requirements, so I think following that same path for reduced mercury would be acceptable.

Sarah, the credit is intended to apply to the building as well as grounds. I would include all of the grounds in your LEED boundary, which most likely does include the parking lot, from what you say.

If you're adapting this to be an ID credit for NC, you may have more leeway in defining it as you wish, but I would see that as an uphill battle.

Wendy, I would think this would work, but I'd appreciate a second opinion from another forum expert.

Wendy and Tristan, that strategy would work out just fine. MRc4 doesn't actually ask you to document what you currently have installed in the building (which is just one of the many funny things about this credit), but asks that you provide a "purchasing plan". This plan should represent the list of preferred lamps that you intend to purchase for the building in the future. The combined weighted average mercury content of the lamps listed in your plan must be 90 picograms per lumen-hourPicograms per lumen-hour is a measure of the amount of mercury in a lamp per unit of light delivered over its useful life. or lower. As long as your plan meets that mercury content threshold and includes at least 90% of the lamps that you'll need to purchase for the building, you should be all set.

Hi Jason and Tristan.

do we still need to provide " purchasing plan" if current installed lamps in our project boundary is already lower than 90 picogramA picogram is 1 trillionth of a gram.?

Yes, because you need to show that you have a developed plan that will help to guide future purchases and keep the mercury content under the compliance threshold. Table MRc4-1 in the Credit Form should be filled out with your purchasing plan information.

Jason,

in this the case, i just need to copy the whole lamp inventory list to purchasing plan.?
When i read on LEED EBOMEBOM is an acronym for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance, one of the LEED 2009 rating sytems. page 286, Step 3 " If the existing lamps meet the target level, the purchasing plan is complete". i thought that, we does not need to fill in the purchasing plan as initial inventory lamps already below target requirement, seem my understanding is wrong.

Yes, you must provide a purchasing plan in Table MRc4-1 on the MRc4 Credit Form. If your current lamp inventory has a mercury content level of less than 90 picograms per lumen-hourPicograms per lumen-hour is a measure of the amount of mercury in a lamp per unit of light delivered over its useful life., then you just need to copy the inventory information into the form. The Reference Guide is just stating that if your current inventory meets the minimum requirements, then you do not need to identify any replacement lamps or make changes to your purchasing habits in order to reduce the mercury content levels to meet the credit requirements.

Terry, you can grab the MRc4 form from LEED Online—see the  link near the top of the page labeled "Download Sample Forms."

You might also be able to request an official version of the EBOMEBOM is an acronym for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance, one of the LEED 2009 rating sytems. Credit Form through the GBCI Feedback Form in LEED Online.

Also, keep in mind that for some reason GBCI is using a limit of 80 picograms/lumen1. A lumen is a unit of luminous flux equal to the light emitted in a unit solid angle by a uniform point source of 1 candle intensity. 2. A measurement of light output.-hour for the threshold when using this as an Innovation point.

If the table task lighting uses linear fluorescent lamps, then you must include them in your calculations. If that lighting uses compact fluorescent lamps, you may exclude them if they meet the NEMA guidelines for mercury content.

If you want to claim the mercury-free lamps in your credit calculations, then you have to provide manufacturer documentation showing that they are just as energy efficient as their conventional counterparts. However, you are allowed to exempt up to 10% of the total number of lamps in your project building from the credit calculations. So, it may affect your overall weighted average mercury content, but you can exempt those 1541 mercury free lamps if you're unable to find all of the manufacturer documentation.

Hi Jason, Thank you for your advice, 2/3 of these mercury-free lamps does have the manufacturing spec, and ready for submission. only 1/3 of it doesn't able to collect from local manufacturer.

again, Thank you.

Yes, it is completely acceptable to limit the reach of your policies and programs to those areas of the building that are under the building management's direct control. Make sure that you note in your Sustainable Purchasing Policy for MRp1 that lighting purchase policy applies only for lamps under management's direct control.

Perhaps the LO template has changed since this Q&A, but v3.0 of the form clearly indicates that the credit applies to all lamp purchases in the entire building and associated grounds, including all tenant purchases, with the exception of the 10% area exemption.

A) If you don't purchase bulbs for the parking lot, and it is outside the LEED project boundary, you are safe excluding it from MRc4 completely.

B) Campuses often complicate these situations due to overlapping distributions of authority, metering, and control. My concern here is that if the parking lot energy consumption is captured by your energy meter, it suggests a natural association of the two areas that may not be divisible simply because both parking and building are on a shared campus. If you need to exclude the parking area, you'll want to have a strong case for doing so - strong enough to supercede the logic dictated by the shared metering. I'm not sure that the fact that the parking is managed/maintained by a third-party is enough - particularly if that third party is also associated with the campus or is a vendor/service-provider to the campus. It's a tough one for sure.

Hi Dan, looking back on this my question is more about energy use... would a parking lot within the project boundary but lighting and metering for lighting not in buildings control be excluded? The project building pays a flat fee for lighting but does manage the hard scape and is "property of" just not the lighting. Thanks

Jason, it sounds like you are taking the right steps. Unfortunately I think the requirements are fairly clear that some lamp purchasing must take place during the performance period to earn the credit.

You could submit it with a narrative describing your approach, and depending on how it is reviewed, it may get approved. Or if the point is important to you, I'd submit a 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.

Tristan is correct - you must purchase at least one new lamp that is listed on your purchasing plan during the performance period in order to qualify for this credit.

The example in the reference guide is intended to be an excerpt of the required information that you must provide on the Submittal Template or Credit Form. Do not submit a custom spreadsheet for your purchasing plan because the reviewers will not accept it. Make sure you put all the data from your purchasing plan into the appropriate table on the required credit documentation in LEED Online.

Hi Chris,

If the manufacturer states that all screw-based, integral compact fluorescent lamps meet the NEMA guidelines, then all such lamps from that manufacturer may be excluded from the purchasing plan and performance period purchasing data. As MRc4 documentation support, I suggest uploading the manufacturer letter for each lamp excluded.

To determine which lamps meet the voluntary guidelines on an individual basis, follow the NEMA guidelines below:
• Lamps rated with input wattages of 0 ≤ 25 watts: 5 mg total mercury
• Lamps rated with input wattages of 25 ≤ 40 watts: 6 mg total mercury

The best way to find this info would be to contact the manufacturer directly and request the technical data. However, unless the other lamps in your purchasing plan have very high-mercury content, the inclusion of the LED exit signs probably won't make much of a difference in your overall calculations. I'd recommend making the effort to contact the manufacturer, but if that proves tricky, simply exclude the LED exit signs from your purchasing plan (you're allowed to exclude up to 10% of the lamps installed in your building).

I typically have been told by O&M staff that the exit sign itself would be replaced rather than just replacing them with new LEDs. As such, I hardly ever include exit signs in the purchasing plan.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding this, but the purchasing plan only needs to address mercury containing lamps, correct? So why would we include LED exit sign lamps in the calculation at all if LEDs contain no mercury? We're looking only at mercury-containing lamps for this credit and determining whether our overall purchase of these lamps during the performance period meets the target. So, we don't need to worry about LEDs, halogens or even incandescents for this calculation because they do not figure into the calculations? And we do not have to figure these no mercury lamps into a 10% exclusion because that exclusion is intended for mercury-containing lamps we want to exclude because they are used for specialty purposes or because their purchase is not under management's direct control, etc. Am I misunderstanding this?

Jared, the credit language doesn't specify a minimum, so I would assume that there isn't one. You would need to purchase at least some (one?) bulb to implement your purchasing program, per the requirements.

No minimum Jared - But it is important to note that a) you must purchase at least one bulb during the performance period, b) that bulb must be found in your purchasing plan, and c) the weighted picogramA picogram is 1 trillionth of a gram./l-h of the bulbs you do purchase during the performance period must themselves be less than 90. I think that a) and b) make some sense, but I'm not crazy about c). Unfortunately, the MRc4 template doesn't agree with me so they are all accurate requirements.

Thanks, guys...the one-bulb requirement seems a little silly, but oh well. Almost seems like they should require a full year of purchase history if they truly wanted to promote actual purchasing vs. a plan.

Hi Jared, just to add in on the conversation, the LEED addenda it says you can have a maximum performance period of two years with the minimum being 3 months.

The performance period can begin at any time, but all performance periods for all the credits must end within a minimum of a month of each other.

Correct me if I'm wrong but I believe you can extend your performance period back to however long ago you purchased those lamps (as long as it's no longer than two years ago).

Here's the link (its a PDF):

http://www.usgbc.org/ShowFile.aspx?DocumentID=6395

The information is on the top of page 3

Hope that helps Jared. Good Luck!

OK, it seems as if some of the big manufacturers of lamps are getting more wily about providing useful Hg data. Which manufacturers do you (and yes, that means you, the reader) find that easily provide the required data and have lamps with low Hg/lumen1. A lumen is a unit of luminous flux equal to the light emitted in a unit solid angle by a uniform point source of 1 candle intensity. 2. A measurement of light output. hour?

T5s and T8s usually get you there especially considering that most EBOMEBOM is an acronym for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance, one of the LEED 2009 rating sytems. projects are large offices that have a bunch of those T8s.

GE has on most of their spec sheets the Hg/lumen1. A lumen is a unit of luminous flux equal to the light emitted in a unit solid angle by a uniform point source of 1 candle intensity. 2. A measurement of light output. hour. Yet, LEEDonline asks for the mg of mercury in the bulb, which GE does not have directly in there documentation. But you can always email the GE rep and he/she can get you the mg of mercury for you.

Sylvania has a calculator you can download off there website, you can find it here:

http://www.sylvania.com/Sustainability/EnvironmentalSustainability/Green...

They also have a downloadable document that states all there mercury content:

http://www.sylvania.com/Recycle/LampandBallastRecycling/MoreInformation/...

Those are the only two companies I looked into.

I hope this is helpful for you

Richard, thank you for the input. I will add that the Philip's lamps have pretty good documentation and the ALTO line of lamps are efficient and low Hg.

For small lamp producers, anyone able to get good info (LEED quality) on Neolite CFL1. Compact fluorescent lamp (CFL) – light source in which the tube is folded or twisted into a spiral to concentrate the light output; CFLs are typically 3 to 4 times as efficient as incandescent light bulbs, and they last 8 to 10 times as long. 2. Small fluorescent lamps used as more efficient alternatives to incandescent lighting. Also called PL, CFL, Twin-Tube, or BIAX lamps. (EPA) 3. A light bulb designed to replace screw-in incandescent light bulbs; they are often found in table lamps, wall sconces, and hall and ceiling fixtures of commercial buildings with residential type lights. They combine the efficiency of fluorescent lighting with the convenience of standard incandescent bulbs. Light is produced the same way as other fluorescent lamps. Compact fluorescent bulbs have either electronic or magnetic ballasts.'s?

As a follow up to my own post about Neolite CFLs, they are made/marketed by Litetronics and they have only 1 mg of Hg per lamp. However, their documentation is marginal and the company's salesforce has no awareness of LEED (and unwilling to connect you to a technical rep.) Besides the best Hg numbers I have seen for a CFL, the rated life is OK. Here is the link to the lamps: http://www.litetronics.com/images/articles/EnlighteningSheets/neolite.pdf

If anyone has experience with these, please chime in.