LEEDuser's Guide to Completing the LEED-NC WEp1 LEED Online form
Following on this page are screen captures that show how to document WEp1: Water Use Reduction for LEED-NC 2009, as well as some comments and explanations interspersed to help guide you in completing the documentation. The following is displayed with permission of the USGBC.
Also see LEEDuser's general how-to guidance and documentation samples for earning WEp1.
The WEp1 LEED Online form
Daily occupancy table
Use the Daily Occupancy table to help determine your project occupancy.
This table is not used for your WEp1/WEc3 calculations, but provides a reference as to what was included in the Occupant and Usage Data form (Pl3). If this table is blank, your Pl3 form has not been filled out.
Fixture groups
Group your occupants by fixture type, then provide occupant data.
This table will actually be used for your WEp1/WEc3 calculations. Here, you want to break down your occupants by usage groups. In this example, the executives have different fixtures (with different flow/flush rates) than the employees and visitors so are separated into two different groups. If all occupants use the same fixtures then you won’t need to break the groups out. Ideally, the total 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. and Visitors will add up to the same as in the Daily Occupancy table from Pl3.
Write a quick narrative on the occupancy data input into the Fixture Groups Definition table above.
Flush fixture data
In the Flush Fixture Data table input the occupant usage group, fixture type, and flush rates.
The baseline will automatically be incorporated and you just need to input the design case flush rates. If you are using a dual flush toilet you should enter in a weighted average flush rate. For example, a 1.6 gpf/0.8 gpf dual flush toilet used in the women’s restroom would have a weighted average of ((1.6*1 + 0.8*2)/3 = 1.067 gpf).
Flow fixture data
In the Flow Fixture Data table input the occupant usage group, fixture type, and flow rates.
The baseline will automatically be incorporated and you just need to input the design case flow rates. If your occupant groups have the same lavatory fixture (like in the example above) you still need to include both occupant groups in separate lines so all FTE are accounted for.
Plumbing schedule
You will need to upload the plumbing schedule highlighting the flush and flow rates.
Check water reduction
Verify that you have at least a 20% water use reduction for the prerequisite. If you achieve a 30%, 35% or 40% reduction you can earn points in WEc3.
Special circumstances
If there are special circumstances or you are complying with an alternative compliance path, you will need to provide a detailed narrative describing these conditions. You may also upload any additional documents to support your claims.
Points summary
Verify your points are documented correctly.
35 Comments
Same fixtures for baseline and design case
We are about to reform and certify two retail sites. We have decided to change the design to incorporate urinals in the project to achieve greater water savings than only with double flush toilets (3/6 liters) that still is installed.
Me doubt is about the calculation of the base line. As I see it, it is most correct to calculate the base line only with regular toilets (no urinals) and thus afterwards include urinals in the design case.
Is this method correts and acceptable?
Thanks!
Nikolaj and Bruce, can you please re-post your questions to our main WEp1 forum? I'm trying to funnel all WEp1 questions into one place. Thanks for your help.
WE-P1 Reduced Occupancy Guidance
We just received our clarification request and the reviewer has stated that the submittal form needs to be adjusted to reflect the ASHRAE 62.1 defult values for an unoccupied floor; and to use usage groups to account for this vacant floor. Can anyone give3 me some guidance on this. I have been looking at the ASHRAE publication but can't find anything that talks about defult 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 for vacant space?
Unfilled Cells in the Flush Fixture Table
When I filled in the information for the first WC, the remainder of the line did not automatically fill in and apparently I am not allowed to fill in the number of uses as that does not work either. Suggestions as to what I might have done wrong?
James, did you start at the top by filling in the fixture usage definitions? I am not looking at the form right now, but that may be linked.
Need help
Flush fixture data: under this table , didn't understood the total daily uses column , can anyone please explain me .
Total daily uses is the number of times in a 24-hour period that the fixture is used.
Defining a Tenant Neutral Group
Hi we are working towards a LEED CS certification on a 33,000 sf space.
It will be used as Medical Office, and thus we have a single user group for the entire space based on LEED default occupancy counts.
We are using the 'tenant neutral' selection on the form WEp1 and I have a question in defining the 'tenant neutral' user group.
Would this be performed in the table 'Fixture Groups Definition'?
And would I have for instance 1 user group entitled 'Medical Office(Tenant Neutral)' and another entitled 'Core & Shell'?
Thank you. CB
Chris, this would be a better question for our CS WEp1 forum. Could you post it there, if it's still a question you have? Thanks.
Public Bathroom vs. Private Bathroom
Why is the baseline "Public Lavatory Faucet" GPM rate set at .5, and the "Private Lavatory Faucet" GPM set at 2.2? That means if I label a faucet for public usePublic or public use applies to all buildings, structures, or uses that are not defined as private or private use., I cannot receive any benefit for having low-flow fixtures. Whats going on here?
The public fixture gpm was lowered between v2.2 and v3 to raise the bar and require teams to examine the total water efficiency strategy. In v2.2, too many projects easily earned WEc3 credits through the faucets alone.
For our NC healthcare projects where the sink does not qualify as a process use but still meets the standard for private usePrivate use applies to plumbing fixtures in residences, apartments, and dormitories, to private (non-public) bathrooms in transient lodging facilities (hotels and motels), and to private bathrooms in hospitals and nursing facilities., this difference means we can use a higher flow faucet than the 0.5 gpm and not jeoparize the WEp1.
Unfinished/unoccupied floors
I have two floors that are unfinished and unoccupied. I will create a separate fixture group for this group due to 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. of the unoccupied floors. They use the same types of fixture types as the other floors. How do I fill out the WEp1 form?
Matthew,
Are you saying that you're going to use 0 as your 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. on the unfinished floors? If so, this will probably not fly with GBCI. You will probably need to use the same FTE as the occupied floors OR come up with a reasonable projected FTE for when the unoccupied floors will be finished. A Minimum Program Requirement of LEED is that buildings must have at least one full time occupant.
Blow out toilets
Hi Guys,
Are blow out toilets rated at 3.5 gpf?
Thanks
Yes, and you can't claim any savings below that baseline for installed fixtures.
http://www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CMSPageID=220
Hi, Tristan!
I have a little doubt for your interpretation of the definition regarding blow-out fixture from the Water Use Reduction Additional Guidance. Here are my questions.
Under the definition of blow-out fixture,
guidance gives some circumstances which may require to use fixtures with 1.6gpf or more.
And, I think that circumstance is a major condition to interpret the paragraph below.
......
When selecting this option, be mindful
that the 3.5 gpf baseline should also be used for the installed case; no water saving credit
may be taken for reducing consumption from a blow-out fixture baseline.
......
Is it make sense to interpret the sentence above alone?
If your interpretation is right, why USGBC doesn't make online template avoid to input installed flush rate when user choose fixture family as 'blow-out fixture'?
It is still OK to input another number into installed case flush rate choosing 'blow-out fixture'.
The definition of 'blow-out fixture' is updated at july 2011 as I know and, The template v4.0 is released at Sept 2011(refer to fix log).
In my opinion, the sentence above means that
the use of fixtures in such circumstances are 'water efficient neutral'. So that the same value should be used both cases.
Not for using blow-out fixtures. Am I wrong?
I'm expecting your kind responce.
Regards,
Even more, If we put Blow out fixtures that require no more than 1.6 gpf (1.05gpf) , can we put as the baseline case the 1.6gpf value ( selecting the water closet fixture family) and as installed the 1.05 gpf value?, or we have to put 3.5 gpf as baseline and installed Case which is not coherent with the reality of the project.
Group students seperately?
In a university C & S project should I group my students seperately from my 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.? Or does the template automatically do so since it lists students seperate from FTE? There is classroom space in the building as well as Faculty office and also a seperate office suite for a tenant. All groups use the same bathrooms however. THANKS!
Also, this may be a silly question, but if I have 3 of the same fixture (with same gpm) do I need to list it 3 times?
Yes, I would group the students separately from 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. as the form requests. By inputting the FTE, students, visitors, etc. in the occupant table, the uses/day for each occupant type will be automatically incorporated into the calculations.
As for the fixtures, you only need to have a separate line item for each different fixture. If all fixtures are the same with the same gpm, this only needs to be input in the calculator 1 time.
Private Lavatory Faucet
In case we have one bathroom designed only for phisically handicapped people, with only one faucet, could we consider it as a "private lavatory faucet"?
Felipe, no, that sounds like a public faucet since access is not restricted.
Medical Office Building Exam Room Lavatory Faucet
Are Lavatory Faucets in an MOB exam room considered to be a private or public fixture? I believe it would be similar to a hospital patient room where it is only being used for the nurse/doctor to wash hands. Clarification on this would be appreciated.
Hi Kimberly,
Faucets in exam rooms, as well as staff hand washing sinks in patients rooms are considered public fixtures. In patient rooms, only the faucets in the patient bathrooms are considered private.
Kimberly,
We have had a few reviews for MOBs come back with the following, "Please note that exam room sinks are considered process waterProcess water is used for industrial processes and building systems such as cooling towers, boilers, and chillers. It can also refer to water used in operational processes, such as dishwashing, clothes washing, and ice making. and should be removed from the calculations."
Ellen,
This is consistent with the policy. The exam room sinks are used by (or for) many people therefore they are public.
Kimberly,
We had a MOB come back just last week with the same reviewer comment as Ellen resulting in a substanial point loss. The doctors are required to wash their hands between each patient however this approach does level the playing field between project types. No place else would hand washing be considered process waterProcess water is used for industrial processes and building systems such as cooling towers, boilers, and chillers. It can also refer to water used in operational processes, such as dishwashing, clothes washing, and ice making.-maybe Amy can set this straight with the LEED reviewers so we all get the same response!
daily uses and dual flush
Working on a project based in france. I would need to know:
1) how to choose the average daily use for dual flush. is there any standards ?
2) how to justify them - can we obtain documents showing these standards? otherwise, what kind of document could comply with the upload demand?
We use a 2 partial flush to 1 full flush over an 8 hour period. I'm sure we read this someplace and it makes sense but the source is escaping me at the moment. We've not had issues with the breakdown.
Information on calculating the weighted average flush rate for dual flush toilets is on pages 4-5 of the USGBC document called "Water Use Reduction Additional Guidance" (see http://www.usgbc.org/ShowFile.aspx?DocumentID=6493).
First time filing out the WEp1 credit. NEED HELP.
First time filing out the WEp1 credit. NEED HELP.
I have filled out the template for TABLE WEp1-3 Flush fixture data and the TABLE WEp1-4 Flow fixture data and have obtained 24% and 16%, reduction in water usage respectively. This results in TABLE WEp1-5 with a Percent reduction of water use in all fixtures (%) of 23%. This exceeds the 20% requirement. So why does the "WE Prerequisite 1: Water Use Reduction - 20% Reduction Compliance Documented: " still state "N" for no??
You likely haven't uploaded all the information like the plumbing cut sheets.
HET Dual Flush
While filling the Water Efficiency Prerequisite1 Template, how do we account for the usage of Dual Flush water closets?
With 1.6g full flush and 1.1g half flush and assuming usage of 2 half flushes and 1 full flush(total use of WC is 3 per day per Female 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. ) and 1.6 g full flush for Male FTE( use of WC is 1 per day per Male FTE) can I assume that the installed flush rate gpf(as asked in the template) would be weighted average of the usage?
Divjot, yes you would use a weighted average for the dual flush usage.
Private Lavatory
Can "private lavatory" faucet designation can be used for this project application?
The 2.2gpm flow rate baseline that "private application (hotel or motel guest rooms, hospital patient rooms)" provides in LEED v3 is significantly higher than the .5 gallons per cycle for commercial lavatories.
I would not recommend this for the purpose of illustration unless the project is a hotel guest room or hospital patient room bathroom faucet.
Jeremy, you are right that commercial lavatories will use the 0.5gpc standard, however because this illustration includes an executive lav intended for 'private or private-use facility', the 2.2gpc has also been included in the calculations. The ID&C Reference Guide states "Facilities in residences and apartments, private bathrooms in hotels and hospitals, and restrooms in commercial establishments where fixtures are intended for the use of a family or an individual are considered private or private-use facilities." The executive lav in the illustration is intended to fall under this allowance.
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