Rating System

LEED BD+C: New Construction

Rating System Version

v2 - LEED 2.0

Inquiry

We would like to confirm that the following approach for a multi-family building with completely individual HVAC systems and no common use areas other than circulation paths will be acceptable to meet the intent of LEED 2.0 Credit 7.2: Thermal Comfort: Permanent Monitoring System: To address the monitoring portion of this Credit, we plan to install a "peramanent temperature and humidity monoring system" in each apartment in the form of hard-wired thermostat/humidistat combination units. These Temp/RH monitors will provide each tenant (who is the "operator" in multi-family residential buildings) control over the thermal comfort environment of the apartment. We will also provide humidification control by making humidifiers available to each apartment (probably with a deposit built into the lease to mitigate theft). Dehumidification control for each apartment will be inherent in the air conditioning system. User education will be provided to tenants for these controls. We have reviewed the Credit Ruling to the related LEED Credit Inquiry dated 1/18/02, stating "The Committee decided that EQ credit 7.2 was probably NOT ADDRESSIBLE in residential occupancies, unless each residential unit can fully monitor and control individual humidity. The Committee perceives potential problems associated with controlling building-wide humidity based on conditions in a subset of residential units". We feel that the previous Ruling responded to a different building type, compared with ours wherein HVAC systems are completely individualized for each dwelling unit. In other words, humidity control by one tenant in one apartment does not significantly impact humidity control of the other apartments or of the building as a whole.