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Promote use of high-efficiency vehicles
This credit is focused on limiting environmental impacts from automobile use. It targets commuting specifically, but also addresses company vehicle fleets, maintenance vehicles, and buses.
Projects that have substantial parking area may find the requirements of this credit to be low-hanging fruit, because they should easily be able to designate preferred parkingPreferred parking, available to particular users, includes designated spaces close to the building (aside from designated handicapped spots), designated covered spaces, discounted parking passes, and guaranteed passes in a lottery system. for low-emitting and...
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20 Comments
Exact wording on signage
The reviewer commented on the wording of the signage
Signage reads Parking for Fuel Efficient Vehicles rather than
FE and LEV. Is there an inexpensive fix for this anyone? The signage is
in place
Parking outside the campus Boundary
This particular project has its car parking outside the campus boundary, will it be an issue? The car park is strictly for the campus.
I don't believe this is an issue.
Car and Motorcycle Parking
Hello,
Our parking is designed for 200 cars and 20 motorcycles. To meet the credit by Option 1 (5% preferred parkingPreferred parking, available to particular users, includes designated spaces close to the building (aside from designated handicapped spots), designated covered spaces, discounted parking passes, and guaranteed passes in a lottery system. for LE and FEV) sould we reserve preferred parking for 10 cars and 1 motorcycle? Or is it possible to provide 11 car parks? Or motorcycle doesn't count like a vehicle, and then with only 10 preferred car parkings is enough?
Thank you very much!
Helena,
I have not seen specific guidance on Motorcycle parking related to this credit. I would probably designate 11 car parking spots just to be safe. I would not think that designating a specific spot for an alternative feul motorcycle would be beneficial, as I do not know of any alternative feul motorcycles.
Perhaps someone else has experience with this?
That's really unfortunate... there's a number of hybrid maxiscooters (they'd require motorcycle parking and are treated as motorcycles by most DMV's) including a few fuel cell motorcycles / maxiscooters. Even without alternative fuels, most motorcycles under 900cc's get between 45-68 mpg.
Karen, we had a good discussion on this question over on the EBOM SSc4 forum. There are some good points both for and against motorcycles. I think if you could address some of the negatives you might be able to get a favorable 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. Let us know if you learn anything more.
FTE calculation
I found 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 on 5/28/2008)-Inquiry Number 2125, ‘providing 5% of the 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. numbers with preferred parkingPreferred parking, available to particular users, includes designated spaces close to the building (aside from designated handicapped spots), designated covered spaces, discounted parking passes, and guaranteed passes in a lottery system. is acceptable’. For the specific project, the FTE number was calculated base on staff, patients and visitors at the maximum occupied shift. Well, I am using only faculties and staffs for FTE calculation and only students and visitors for transient occupant calculation for SS c4.2 Bicycle Storage and Changing Rooms. I have been told that FTE number has to be consistent throughout the LEED submittals. Could I just count faculties and staffs for FTE calculation to determine the number of required preferred parking spaces? How do you get FTE for visitors or students? The team is proposing to provide preferred parking spaces at existing parking lot on campus, outside the project boundary.
Yes, you'll want to use faculty and staff for the 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. numbers and treat students and visitors as Transients when you define these numbers for all the related credits. Page 55 of the NC 2.2 Reference Guide has a good example of how these are calculated for a campus building with full and part time faculty and staff, and transient students.
The number of students and visitors can be hard to know, so you'll need to work with the owner or space planning team to estimate these numbers. These are the transients, and you'll need to estimate the peak number at the busiest time of day.
Signage requirements
Is a physical mounted sign required per space or can it be painted signage on the ground per space?
Christi, there are not specific requirements. I would consider a mounted sign a better practice since it's more visible and permanent, but painted signs, if maintained, should also work.
Preferred Spaces in a Parking Garage
In the case of a multi-leveled parking garage, is it okay to spread the LEV spaces out over a number of floors, but still maintain a "preferred" location such as adjacent to the elevator lobbies, as opposed to all the spaces on the level adjacent to the building entrance or main lobby?
Linda, I think this is up to your interpretation (and your reviewer's), but in my opinion your plan is sound. If you need, let's say 100 preferred parkingPreferred parking, available to particular users, includes designated spaces close to the building (aside from designated handicapped spots), designated covered spaces, discounted parking passes, and guaranteed passes in a lottery system. spaces, that will push many of them farther away from the main lobby if you chose to put them all on one floor. By dividing them up between floors you can keep them all close to the main lobby and elevator lobbies, which is "preferable." Or at least, it sounds like a good argument.
Linda, I'm sure you've already submitted this credit but I've used the same approach and the LEED Reviewer approved the credit.
Motorbike parking
I'm following up on an earlier post by Fabio Frescia. Our projects are in Vietnam, where car useage is still very low; it has the largest percentage of motorbike users in the world. I've been complying on the few number of car parking spaces with all the LEED credit requirements, but because doing so doesn't really fulfill the intent of the credit, I've also been creating as close an equivalent as I can for the much larger motorbike parking zones. When Fabio posted his comment the reply was that motorbikes can't be counted as fuel-efficient vehiclesFuel-efficient vehicles have achieved a minimum green score of 40 according to the annual vehicle-rating guide of the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy., but I realized it was a semantic issue as these are not technically motorbikes: Vietnam's popular ride is not a Harley, its a little Honda 125cc scooter. So the vast majority of our car parking is for scooters. I'm very happy to supply electric scooter spaces in the scooter parking lot but our approach is a gamble, since we can't find any relevant advice on this situation. Does anyone know if there is a suitable precedent on this credit?
I am also not aware of any precedent for this issue. To avoid taking a gamble, I would recommend submitting 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 to get an official ruling from GBCI. I know new alternate compliance paths are being developed for international projects, which may or may not include provisions for motorbike parking.
Thanks, Ryan, we've been thinking 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 is the way to go, we'll probably submit one.
Can parking be designated for both credits?
Can the parking sign read that either fuel-efficient or carpools can park here as long as the total available parking spots is not diminished? E.g. if one has to provide 20 for fuel-efficient and 20 for carpools, can one provide 40 for either?
Good question. Although I am not aware of specific language in LEED that prohibits preferred parkingPreferred parking, available to particular users, includes designated spaces close to the building (aside from designated handicapped spots), designated covered spaces, discounted parking passes, and guaranteed passes in a lottery system. spaces from being shared between carpool and low-emitting vehiclesLow-emitting vehicles are classified as zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) by the California Air Resources Board. (as long as the total number of spaces is correct for each), I do not believe this approach would work for other reasons. For example, if you have a total of 40 preferred spaces, there is a chance that 38 of them could be taken by low-emitting vehicles, leaving only 2 spaces for carpool vehicles. In this case, there would not be enough spaces available to satisfy the intent of SSc4.4. With that said, an official answer may be obtained through the Credit Interpretation Request process.
Does implementing Option 2 and 3 qualify as 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.?
It does not appear so... but I though I would ask anyway.
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