Rating System

LEED BD+C: New Construction, LEED BD+C: New Construction, LEED BD+C: New Construction

Rating System Version

v2 - LEED 2.0, v2 - LEED 2.2, v2 - LEED 2.2

Inquiry

Our project is a Acute Care Hospital which we will be submitting under LEED-NC v2.1. We intend to meet the requirements of this credit using the following two systems: System 1) Floors 2 through 9. This represents the majority of the building and houses the clinical treatment and patient care areas. The occupancy consists of patient rooms, diagnostic treatments sites such as MRI, and Catheterization Labs, Operating Theaters, and associated ancilliary spaces. There are some meeting rooms, waiting areas, and an atrium typically found in a large scale acute care center. The ventilation system for this portion of the building consists of a series of air handling units serving a common distribution system. All of the ventilation units are 100% outside air supply with 100% exhaust air. There is no recirculation of air for this system. We will provide CO2 sensors for all spaces that are anticipated to have variable occupancy such as: meeting rooms, waiting areas, gathering spaces such as atriums, and staff support areas such as staff lounges and nursing stations. Air volume will be increased to maintain acceptable CO2 levels. For spaces where a constant occupancy is expected such as operating rooms, patient rooms, diagnostic areas etc, a calculation as prescribed by ASHRAE Standard #62 will be conducted to demonstrate that the design air supply to the room is well above acceptable ASHRAE prescribed volumes. Since these areas are not designed as variable air volume zones, CO2 monitors will not be employed. Rather, the Building Management System will monitor the terminal units for each of these zones and signal an alarm to the Building Operator in the event that air flow slows below the design volume. System #2) Level 0 and 1. This space consists of some clinical diagnostic space such as examination rooms and simple diagnostic imaging as well as circulation space such as waiting rooms and a cafeteria. This area is fed by an air system consisting of 4 air handling units which supply a common distribution system. These units operate using a mixture of outdoor air and return air. We will provide CO2 sensors in the return air ductwork for zones of similar occupancy: examination rooms, diagnostic imaging rooms, waiting rooms, and cafeteria. An outdoor air CO2 sensor will also be provided as a reference point. Alarms will be provided to the building operator through the building management system should anyone of the return duct CO2 sensors measure an unacceptable CO2 level. Does the method of monitoring the supply air flow rate to the constant volume zones in system #1 to ensure that design supply air flow is maintained satisfy the requirements of this credit? Does the combining of similar rooms by monitoring the return air CO2 levels for those room types satisfy the requirements of this credit?