NC 2009 SSc4.2: Alternative Transportation—Bicycle Storage and Changing Rooms

Joshua Radoff replied Principal, LEEDuser Primary Author, YRG sustainability Nov 05 2009

Bikes do not have to be indoors. For residential, they have to be covered. If you want to put them indoors to do so, you can.
Bike racks: they range from about $200 - $600 and can fit 4 – 8 bikes. Estimate $60/bike.
The shower stall can be unisex. That is one is fine for either sex.

Tristan Roberts replied Editor – LEEDuser, BuildingGreen, LLC Nov 22 2009

Martin, I would have to double-check if this applies to NC 2.2 (it probably does), but in LEED 2009 there are two factors that apply to this credit, a) # of building users at peak periods, and b) FTEFull-time equivalent (FTE) represents a regular building occupant who spends 8 hours a day (40 hours a week) in the project building. Part-time or overtime occupants have FTE values based on their hours per day divided by 8 (or hours per week divided by 40). Transient Occupants can be reported as either daily totals or as part of the FTE. Residential occupancy should be estimated based on the number and size of units. Core and Shell projects should refer to the default occupancy table in the Reference Guide appendix. All occupant assumptions must be consistent across all credits in all categories..

You're supposed to use FTE to determine the number of showers provided — so use the largest volume shift for that. For the bike racks, the measurement of users at peak periods would probably need to factor in a higher volume of users at shift overlaps. This number is quite likely higher than FTE.

Tristan Roberts replied Editor – LEEDuser, BuildingGreen, LLC Jan 27 2010

I've found that it's common for the project owner to think more about office spaces than FTEFull-time equivalent (FTE) represents a regular building occupant who spends 8 hours a day (40 hours a week) in the project building. Part-time or overtime occupants have FTE values based on their hours per day divided by 8 (or hours per week divided by 40). Transient Occupants can be reported as either daily totals or as part of the FTE. Residential occupancy should be estimated based on the number and size of units. Core and Shell projects should refer to the default occupancy table in the Reference Guide appendix. All occupant assumptions must be consistent across all credits in all categories.'s, so it may be something you need to calculate yourself, for LEED.

The LEED Reference Guide gives specific directions on calculating FTE, but I think your question is a bit more fundamental. You're wondering how to get a basic headcount relative to the office space, if I understand correctly. In this case, just use common sense, in terms of how many offices or workstations will be provided.

Tristan Roberts replied Editor – LEEDuser, BuildingGreen, LLC Jan 27 2010

I got 5 x 0.5% = 0.025, but the main point is that you have to provide at least one shower to earn the credit.

Doing the math and rounding up in this case, 1 is correct.

Mara Baum replied Sustainability Coordinator, Anshen + Allen Architects Jan 27 2010

I would say not only that yes, you do, but also yes, you probably should. 165 bike racks may sound like a lot, but so does 3300 users. College students are often more likely to travel by bike than are people in the general population. If this is not the case on the campus you're working for, then perhaps this isn't the best credit to pursue.

Keep in mind that bike racks can be within 200 yards of any usable building entry, which can include existing bike racks at nearby buildings. (Using those bike racks means that they can't be counted towards other LEED projects on campus.)

Also, don't forget to include FTEs in addition to the transient users. They will require shower facilities in or near the building; the transient users do not.

Bill Swanson replied Feb 16 2010

If this is a LEED building the shower will likely use 2.5 gallons per minute, but more likely 1.8 gallons per minute. The default setting in the WEc3 template is a 5 minute shower duration. Most showers are a mixture of hot and cold water. I don't know what percentage. I can guess 75% hot and 25% cold.

1.8 gpm * 5 minutes * 440 BTUA unit of energy consumed by or delivered to a building. A Btu is an acronym for British thermal unit and is defined as the amount of energy required to increase the temperature of 1 pound of water by 1 degree Fahrenheit, at normal atmospheric pressure. Energy consumption is expressed in Btu to allow for consumption comparisons among fuels that are measured in different units. * 75% = 2,970 Btu.
Compared to your 16,667 Btu value for the 4 mile car ride.

There is embodied energy1. Embodied energy is the energy used during the entire life cycle of a product, including its manufacture, transportation, and disposal, as well as the inherent energy captured within the product itself. 2. The energy expended in the process of creating a product, often including the fuel value of its constituent parts as well as transportation to its point of use. in the shower construction, plumbing, pumping, and also bike construction. And in the car's construction. The best way I know of to estimate this total energy cost is the total dollar cost to construct and maintain.

Tristan Roberts replied Editor – LEEDuser, BuildingGreen, LLC Mar 02 2010

I just wrote out a detailed response with my own calculations but then lost them with an errant keystroke! Drat.

My quick calculations, based on kwhA kilowatt-hour is a unit of work or energy, measured as 1 kilowatt (1,000 watts) of power expended for 1 hour. One kWh is equivalent to 3,412 Btu., showed about 2.4 kwh for heating the water -- and just a wild guess of that same about for potable waterPotable water meets or exceeds EPA's drinking water quality standards and is approved for human consumption by the state or local authorities having jurisdiction; it may be supplied from wells or municipal water systems. provision and subsequent treatment -- so 5 kwh. And, 24 kwh for a 10-mile commute. I think the shower comes out of top.

Question -- most people would take a shower at home anyway, so showering at work replaces that. Many people would also shower when they get home anyway. Probably a lot of people will shower after returning home on the bike. So, it's not definitive whether bicycling adds overall showering. Probably it does on average, but not by as much as you imply in your question.

Mara Baum replied Sustainability Coordinator, Anshen + Allen Architects Mar 02 2010

A few other factors:

-the BtuA unit of energy consumed by or delivered to a building. A Btu is an acronym for British thermal unit and is defined as the amount of energy required to increase the temperature of 1 pound of water by 1 degree Fahrenheit, at normal atmospheric pressure. Energy consumption is expressed in Btu to allow for consumption comparisons among fuels that are measured in different units. (and water and possibly chemicals, if not organic) involved with growing the additional food one must consume to commute by bike
-the enormous difference in paved area (heat island) required for a car than for a bike, and the saved infrastructure as a result of widespread bike commuting
-the lower air pollution from fewer cars on the road and reduced obesity problems resulting from biking or walking to work, so Btus saved from less hospital infrastructure

I know this is all theoretical, but it's not exactly apples to apples.

Jean Marais replied b.i.g. bechtold INGENIEURGESELLSCHAFT MBH Mar 03 2010

Good answeres, ladies and gentlemen, ALL! Thank you.

Mara Baum replied Sustainability Coordinator, Anshen + Allen Architects Mar 02 2010

Good question. I can take a guess at the answer, but am not certain of the best approach. In general, projects with high transient populations are actually required to install the number of bike racks required by the credit. While 433 bike racks sounds like a lot, so does 8,484 people. You might try to determine whether or not your client will rent the meeting spaces based on code maximum occupancies, or other criteria. If it's the latter, your transient count will drop.

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 ruling dated 9/14/2006 implies that the convention center visitors need to be included in the bike rack calcs -- "It is not acceptable to automatically exclude all transient visitors from these calculations as it is reasonable to expect that some of the visitors to the retail shops, conference center, theater, and gaming facilities could potentially arrive on a bicycle..."

Although it's likely that some of the convention center visitors are staying in the hotel, there's probably not a way to directly prove or link this. You could try a CIR that asks to deduct number of hotel rooms from the convention center visitor count, but since it's possible that 100% of the guests could be coming from outside of the hotel, I'm not sure this would fly. Even convention facilities that most often accommodate out of town guests usually also hold events geared toward locals.

There are several LEED certified convention centers -- you might look and see if any of those got the bike rack credit, and if yes, how they did the calculations. You can probably search for this on the USGBC website, on BuildingGreen's case study pages, or on Google.

Premnath Sundharam replied Architectural Designer, DLR Group Mar 03 2010

Hello Mara,
Thanks for your response. I understand that a facility which could anticipate 8,000 people could potentially anticipate 400 bike rack users.

Rather than try to tackle it from reducing the number of bike racks required, I wanted to approach it from the intent of the credit. The intent of the credit is to encourage people to use bikes and promote for a behavioral change in the way they commute.

So, I first wanted to understand how often the existing bike racks in the existing facility gets used and then find a way to promote behavioral change by way of introducing more bike rack options to the user.

The existing bike rack count is based on local code that requires total bike racks at 5% of max parking capacity. I spoke with the convention center facility manager and found out that the existing bike racks are primarily used for Traffic Control. It appears that, say if the convention center exhibit hall is rented for an event that attracts local community, then the renter of the exhibit hall would also rent the bike racks to allow for their representatives to traffic control / police the people at the parking lot and so on. The actual number of users that really use the bike racks to attend events seems to be very low.

So, on an average, the facility manager believes that it would be fair to say only 10% of the convention center attendees for local events might actually use the bike racks available to attend the event.

So my approach to achieve this credit intent is to provide more bike racks than the current usage anticipating a future growth and change in behavioral pattern.
Applying Current usage rate to new construction portion:
Hotel Guests, Retail Customers, Visitors, Employees are the four types of users at this facility.

Based on the proforma for the hotel, we know that the expected occupancy is 70%. So we have 787 guests at 70% = 551 guests. Based on 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 dated 9/14/2006, hotel guests can be eliminated from the bike rack calcs if they are believed to be primarily from out of town. In our case, they are and hence I eliminated hotel guests from the below calcs.

Retail customers (Bar / lounge / restaurant / hotel lobby) per code is 328. Assuming that most of the retail customers will be the hotel guests, I am taking only 50% of the code max on Bar/lounge and Restaurant and 25% of the code max on Lobby for non-hotel transient visitors. So the new total for non-hotel retail customers is 148.

I got the actual maximum seating capacity for all the meeting rooms and ballrooms at the hotel and the convention center. The seating capacity chart for some rooms share the exact code occupancy but some are lower than code. Total visitors per seating capacity = 6195. Even though some of the convention center visitors could be the hotel guests, as you pointed out, it could entirely be local people, so I am not reducing visitor count for hotel guests.

Total employees at both hotel and convention center (at peak) is 145

Total transient visitors = Retail Customers (148) + Visitors (6,195) + Employees (145) = 6,488 (Excluding Hotel Guests)

Applying the current usage pattern of only 10% of the people anticipated to use bike racks, the number of people expected to use bike racks based on current behavioral pattern is 6,488 x 0.1 = 649. Required bike racks to meet current usage pattern = 5% of expected people using bike racks = 649 x 0.05 = 33 bike racks.

Approach ONE to promote behavioral change:

Simply double the number of bike racks required to meet current usage pattern to allow for more usage and eventually change the behavioral pattern. So provide 66 bike racks.

Approach TWO to promote behavioral change:
1. Convert the retail customers and visitors to FTEs based on the amount of time per day and number of events in a year they are anticipated to attend at the convention center
2. Provide bike racks for the new transient users’ total

I found out that the convention center meeting rooms are expected to have 60 events per year. At two days per event on an average, the expected number of days the meeting rooms are anticipated to be used is 120 days. At four hours a day maximum on average per visitor, the FTE count for Visitors comes to 1430 ((6195 x (4/8)x 120) / (52x8x5) = 1430)

Assuming the retail spaces would see the same usage rate as the hotel guest rooms, the actual number of days in a year that the retail spaces would be see peak users is 70% of 365 = 250 days. At 3 hours per day per retail customer at the Bar and Restaurant and 1 hour per day per customer at the lobby, the FTE count for the Retail customers comes to 50.

Do the same FTE count for the employees over a year, the actual FTE count for employees comes to 165 (Assuming full time employees at 8 hours and half time at 4 hours)

So, the new total transient user = FTE Retail Customers (50) + FTE Visitors (1430) + FTE Employees (165) = 1,645

Providing bike racks at 5% for this new total brings the required bike rack count to 1,645 x 0.05 = 84.

Conclusion:
Approach TWO provides more bike racks than Approach ONE. Either of the two approaches provide more than double bike racks than the current usage rate. As the usage rate increases over the years, I may be able to get the convention center to agree to provide a valet bike parking during high demands on offsite locations.

We are planning to provide 84 bike racks on our design. At a minimum promoting the employees to use bike racks would begin to address the behavioral change. So we strategically located bike racks near the employee entrance and close to the Light Rail stop. We are providing double the required bike racks for the employees to promote more employees to use bikes. (Required 9, provided 20). The rest of the bike racks are geared towards the convention center visitors and are located near the bus stops. Through this approach we are gradually promoting the behavioral change rather than invest the entire infrastructure for bike racks today.

I apologize for the long response. Does this logic make sense?

Also, we have been exploring at how other convention centers achieved this credit (most of the LEED certified ones have achieved this credit). Will keep the forum posted.
Any thoughts will be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
Prem

Mara Baum replied Sustainability Coordinator, Anshen + Allen Architects Mar 03 2010

There's a lot here - I hope I can break my responses down in a way that make sense. There seem to be two questions: one is how to calc the occupant load as appropriate for this credit, and two, how to use that number to determine the number of bike racks needed.

For the first question, I would ask, is the bar/lounge/restaurant/retail all within the hotel itself, not the convention center? If not, then I don't think you can take a 50% reduction in the transient population count. If so, then maybe -- but I'm not sure. As for the lobby, I would suggest that everyone there is just passing through on their way to other destinations, so I wouldn't count them at all. If this is one of those great hotel lobbies that is really a destination in its own right, then I would count the number of seats (couches, chairs, etc.) and use that as the transient occupant load... plus, of course, FTEs who would be working there.

In your second approach, I don't think that converting visitors to FTE equivalents is appropriate here, because we're looking at a peak load condition. Also, I don't think I'd assume that the retail spaces would have the same occupancy as the hotel. If there's a big convention, then these spaces will be in full use (the hotel will probably be full) -- and this is the condition we're most interested in, since we're looking for a peak (not average) transient occupancy.

The second question is relatively straight forward -- you just take the occupancy number and multiply it by 0.05.

In your first approach, you say, "Applying the current usage pattern of only 10% of the people anticipated to use bike racks, the number of people expected to use bike racks based on current behavioral pattern is 6,488 x 0.1 = 649." This is the type of calc you would use for LEED (with whatever occupancy load you end up with), although the LEED requirement is for 5% not 10%. However, I really don't understand this next step: "Required bike racks to meet current usage pattern = 5% of expected people using bike racks = 649 x 0.05 = 33 bike racks." This calculation is not a part of LEED. Also, the current usage rate is not relevant for LEED calculations.

As for your approaches to behavioral change, anything you do is of course great, but this is not directly related to LEED. 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. option for this credit involves a comprehensive transportation management plan, not adding more bike racks. If we look beyond LEED for a moment to discuss behavioral change, I would suggest things like providing free maps of local bike routes, bike-buddy programs, and connections to safe (often smaller) streets and local bike routes, possibly working with the local transportation department if necessary. Also, providing bike racks in places that are covered or perceived to be safer (e.g. next to a guard station) can also go a long way. I am a big fan of bike locker rentals for regular bike commuters.

In summary, you need to multiply your total FTEs + total peak transients by 0.05 to get the total number of bike racks needed. Note that my comments with regard to occupancy counts are just my best guess; GBCI has the final say on these matters.

There may be other, better intelligence out there on this issue, so if you find out how other convention centers have achieved this point, definitely share that with us in this forum -- thanks.

Jean Marais replied b.i.g. bechtold INGENIEURGESELLSCHAFT MBH Mar 04 2010

Well done Premnath, you've successfully pointed out what a nightmare this calculation is for all high transient buildings.

I understand that 10% usage was what your research and questions to the facility manager came to...

Mara has a point that converting peak users to FTEFull-time equivalent (FTE) represents a regular building occupant who spends 8 hours a day (40 hours a week) in the project building. Part-time or overtime occupants have FTE values based on their hours per day divided by 8 (or hours per week divided by 40). Transient Occupants can be reported as either daily totals or as part of the FTE. Residential occupancy should be estimated based on the number and size of units. Core and Shell projects should refer to the default occupancy table in the Reference Guide appendix. All occupant assumptions must be consistent across all credits in all categories., i.e. spreading their occupation over the space of a 8 hour day is tactically not appropriate. I personally hate it when all the bike racks are full at peak times.

However, I would like to also say that often these big convention centers are located outside of town or on city limits accessable only by a train link or by car. Out on the motor way there are no bike paths and biking to these centers is out of the question from a safety point of view.

Some city center centers are otherwise quite accessable by bike for the local attendants. What percentage of convention center attendants is local also depends on the type of convention. The convention type will change for every convention and their may be hundreds in a year.

A one size fits all solution here seems unlikely to come out. For starters the USGBC and LEED should give more tips here. What fits for an office can't always be made to fit everywhere.

In your case I would find a number for the peak local users and add the FTE employee count to it as the sum to which to multiply 0.05.

Premnath Sundharam replied Architectural Designer, DLR Group Mar 04 2010

Mara and Jean,
Thank you for your responses. I agree with Mara on the appropriateness of converting transient users into FTEs. My thought was, converting to FTEs could be one way to dilute the load down to just local users.

I got this idea of converting from a colleague who has successfully achieved this credit with GBCI through this approach on a Baseball Stadium which has similar occupancy type and rate of use.

Also, I toured another convetion center locally in town that has achieved this same credit. The size of this convention center is three times the size of our new addition and they have only 46 bike racks for the entire facility sprinklered around the facility and in the garage, which tells me that they probably provided bike racks just for the employees.

Also, googling on green convention centers, the following link highlights a few that has provided bike racks.

http://www.gcbl.org/planning/convention-center/green-convention-centers-...

Notice on the above link, Jackson Center is only providing bike racks for employees. So providing just for the employees seems to be the trend here.

Anyone who has any knowledge on these projects, please share your thoughts.

I will try to get some statistics on local users for the convention center and try to meet the required bike racks for at least the local PEAK users.

Thanks again for your time and thoughts.
Prem

Mara Baum replied Sustainability Coordinator, Anshen + Allen Architects Mar 04 2010

One final comment - not all credits are appropriate for all projects; it's just the nature of the LEED system. In an extreme case, for example, I would never recommend pursuing this credit for a convention center in the middle of nowhere with just highway access.

This calculation is definitely difficult for any building with a high transient population -- stores, libraries, hospitals, community centers, etc. -- and you often have to make some assumptions about numbers. The important thing is to be able to back them up with sound logic, and when in doubt be as conservative as possible.

Tristan Roberts replied Editor – LEEDuser, BuildingGreen, LLC Mar 15 2010

Gregg, that upload is only required if you're aiming for an 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 via IDc1 for SSc4 as a whole. Are you?

Gregg Schwieterman replied Mar 15 2010

Thanks Tristan, we are not attempting 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. point, so we should be in good shape.