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Credit language straight from USGBC
Need to check up on the exact LEED credit language from the LEED Rating System on the fly? LEEDuser includes the verbatim language. Members get:
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- On the jobsite without your bulky LEED Reference Guide? Check up on the credit language details here.
- Credit language content is used by permission of the U.S. Green Building Council.
9 Comments
Designated Carpool
Our project only has one carpool area and drop off. Does the designated area for fuel efficient vehicles have to be separate?
Designated Carpool
Yes, the provision of a carpool dropoff area is part of the requirements outlined in SSc4.4 (typically for residential projects). If the project is also pursuing SSc4.3, 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 must be provided for low-emitting vehiclesLow-emitting vehicles are classified as zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) by the California Air Resources Board..
J W replied Feb 22 2010
Now I am confused. I thought the carpool drop off area was for SSc4.3, not 4.4. My question relates to the designated area for carpool (School) for fuel efficient vehicles. The parking spaces are not a problem. If the carpool area has two lanes, can the interior lane be the designated area for those vehicles or does it have to be located somewhere completely different?
Schools SSc4.3
I just realized that your original posting was submitted under the Schools section. Apologies. As you correctly identified, a designated carpool drop-off area is required for low-emitting and fuel efficient vehicles for school projects. The term "designated" is used to ensure that carpool drivers of low-emitting vehiclesLow-emitting vehicles are classified as zero-emission vehicles (ZEVs) by the California Air Resources Board. receive some sort of preference over drivers of conventional vehicles. Your proposed approach of having a designated lane for carpool drivers of low-emitting vehicles seems to meet the intent; however an official ruling on this must come from GBCI via the 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 process.
Schools SSc4.3
I find this requirement, at least for public schools, to be unfair and conflicting with other sustainability goals. The last thing we want to do is add more impervious paving for the exclusive use of low-emitting vehicle drivers. I'd rather encourage students to walk and carpool.
Schools SSc4.3
Has anyone come across any strategies or ways as to how buildings which qualify and get this cerdit go about enforcing, specially in schools.
Tristan Roberts replied Editor – LEEDuser, BuildingGreen, LLC Apr 21 2010
Anish we have some suggestions on how to enforce this in the Operations & Maintenance section of the Getting It Done tab, above. These are distilled from quite a bit of project experience.
Lindsey Piant replied Sustainable Coordinator, DLR Group May 06 2010
Karen, I agree with your thought regarding the dedicated carpool drop-off lane. Shouldn't the intent of the credit be voided for carpool drop-off if the project is demstrated at least 80% of the school boundaries are within walking distance? The intent of this credit would be to encourage low-emitting vehicle drivers for 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..
Karen Anderson replied LEED program manager, Montgomery County Public Schools May 06 2010
Hi Lindsey: Nice to hear from someone so experienced with LEED-S projects! We did consider limiting the parent drop-off lane to carpools (fuel-efficient or not), but the last thing any Principal wants is to have her staff confronting angry parents who feel it is their "right" to let their only child have an extra 1/2 hour sleep and then drive them to the door. To be fair, carpooling and walking are hard on working parents, who don't have the time to walk with children, then go back to work. My kids were able to walk to school by themselves, but that was years ago and the culture has changed. I wish USGBC would share good ideas--I bet there is a LEED school that came up with a great alternative transportation plan and got ID credit for it!
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