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These are the main differences between the draft version of the new LEED for Schools Rating System and LEED-NC 2.2. A second public comment period will be held in late November when the U.S. Green Building Council will accept comments for changes to the draft rating system. The system will be released for use by designers and planners in February with no pilot program, since much of the rating system was based on existing California and Massachusetts state high-performance school standards.
Sustainable sites
Prerequisite 2: Adds sustainable site prerequisite 2 intended to ensure that the site is free of environmental contamination and if contaminated, that the environmental contamination has been remediated to protect children’s health.
Credit 2: Physical education spaces such as sports fields and playgrounds are excluded from development density calculations.
Credit 3: Brownfield redevelopment must meet acceptable residential level as defined by EPA Region 9 Preliminary Remediation Guidelines.
Credits 4.1, 4.2: For grades 9 and higher incentives given to locate the project within 1/2 mile of an existing, planned, or funded commuter rail, light rail, or subway station and within 1/4 mile of public or campus bus lines. For grades 8 and below, required distance is 1/4 mile for funded, planned, or existing commuter rail, light rail, or subway stations and 1/8 mile for public or campus bus lines. Dedicated walking and bike routes to the stations required in all cases. Dedicated bike lanes must extend to at least the end of the school property in 2 or more directions.
Credit 4.3: Develop a plan for 20% of school’s buses and maintenance vehicles to use natural gas, propane, biodiesel or low-emitting and fuel-efficient vehicles OR provide preferred parking for 5% of the total vehicle parking capacity of the site and at least one designated car pool drop off area for low-emitting and fuel-efficient vehicles.
Credit 4.4: Three different options for providing preferred parking for carpools and fewer parking spaces including providing no new parking and sizing parking capacity to not exceed minimum local zoning requirements.
Credit 6.2: Consider pervious materials for physical education spaces, such as wood, mulch, recycled mulch, and pervious paving.
Credit 8: To reduce light pollution all non-emergency interior lighting with a direct line of sight to any opening in the building envelope shall have its power input reduced (by automatic device) by at least 50% between the hours of 11PM and 5AM or have shielding that will close access to outside the envelope during those hours. Physical education spaces need not comply with this credit.
Credit 9 (future expansion within Master Plan): Intended to ensure the environmental site issues included in the initial development of the site and project are continued throughout future development due to changes in programs or demography.
Credit 10: Make the school a more integrated part of the community by enabling the building and its playing fields to be used for non-school events and functions, two options.
Water efficiency
Credit 4: Maximize water efficiency within buildings to reduce the burden on municipal water supply and wastewater systems. Buildings must have no refrigeration equipment using once-through cooling with potable water or garbage disposals and at least 4 process items where water use is at or below the levels in a provided water use table.
Energy and Atmosphere
Prerequisite 2: The project must obtain 2 points within EA credit 1, Optimize Energy Performance. The project must establish an Energy Performance Rating goal for the facility design using EPA’s Target Finder rating tool.
Credit 1: Levels for optimum energy performance are 14% for new buildings and 7% for existing building renovations rather than 10.5% and 3.5%, respectively, in LEED-NC 2.2.
A prescriptive compliance path is outlined in new optimum energy option 2.
Credit 2: Encourage and recognize increasing levels of on-site renewable energy self-supply in order to reduce environmental and economic impacts associated with fossil fule energy use. Use on-site renewable energy systems to offset building energy cost. Use the building annual energy cost calculated in EA credit 1 or use the Department of Energy (DOE) Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey database to determine estimated energy use. For schools, 2.5% renewable energy earns 1 point, 7.5% renewable energy earns 2 points and 12.5% or more earns 3 points. School projects can also achieve one point in this category for using 1.5% on-site renewable energy, if they also achieve ID credit 3, The School as a Teaching Tool, as a method of ensuring that the renewable energy system is integrated into the curriculum. The U.S. Green Building Council is openly seeking more comment on this issue.
Credit 5: Provide a process for corrective action to ensure energy savings are realized if the results of the measurement and verification plan (of no less than one year of post-construction occupancy) indicate that energy savings are not being achieved.
Credit 6: School districts can purchase green power on a centralized basis and allocate the green power to a specific district.
Materials & Resources
Prerequisite 1: An area should be dedicated to collection and storage of plant-based landscaping debris (trimmings), unless the site has no landscaping.
Indoor Environmental Quality
Prerequisite 2 (potential strategy change): Prohibit smoking in schools or effectively control the ventilation in smoking rooms.
Prerequisite 3: Provide classrooms that are quiet and in which teachers can speak to the class without straining their voices and students can effectively communicate with each other and the teacher. Design classrooms and other core learning spaces to meet the Reverberation Time (RT) and Sound Transmission Coefficients (STC) requirements of ANSI Standard S12.60-2002, Acoustical Performance Criteria, Design Requirements and Guidelines for Schools AND using the methodology in described annexes B and D in Standard S12.60-2002, achieve a maximum background noise level in classrooms and other primary learning spaces of 45dBA.
Credit 4.1: Adds option 2 for meeting low-emitting materials, adhesives & sealants standard; all adhesives and sealants installed in the building interior shall meet the testing and product requirements of the California Department of Health Services “Standard Practice for the Testing of Volatile Organic Emissions From Various Sources Using Small Scale Environmental Chambers,” (http://www.dhs.ca.gov/iaq/VOCS/section01350_7_15_2004-01.pdf) including the 2004 addenda.
Credit 4.2: Adds option 2 for meeting low-emitting materials, paints & coatings; all adhesives and sealants installed in the building interior shall meet the testing and product requirements of the California Department of Health Services “Standard Practice for the Testing of Volatile Organic Emissions From Various Sources Using Small Scale Environmental Chambers,” (http://www.dhs.ca.gov/iaq/VOCS/section01350_7_15_2004-01.pdf) including the 2004 addenda.
Credit 4.3: All carpet adhesive shall meet the requirements of a VOC limit of 50 g/l or the product and testing requirements of the Carpet and Rug Institute’s Green Label Plus program. All hard surface flooring shall meet the testing and product requirements of the Resilient Floor Covering Institute’s FloorScore program or the Greenguard Environmental Institute’s Certification Program.
Credit 4.4: Adds option 2 for composite wood and agrifiber products; all adhesives and sealants installed in the building interior shall meet the testing and product requirements of the California Department of Health Services “Standard Practice for the Testing of Volatile Organic Emissions From Various Sources Using Small Scale Environmental Chambers,” (http://www.dhs.ca.gov/iaq/VOCS/section01350_7_15_2004-01.pdf) including the 2004 addenda.
Credit 5: Provide containment drains plumbed for appropriate disposal of hazardous liquid wastes in places where water and chemical concentrate mixing occurs in school laboratory spaces.
Credit 6.1: For classrooms and core learning spaces, provide a classroom lighting system that operates in two modes; general illumination and A/V.
-In general illumination mode, achieve and average illumination mode at the desk level of 40 footcandles; a uniformity ratio not exceeding 4:1; and a ceiling and upper wall brightness greater than or equal to 60 foot/lamberts.
-In A/V mode, achieve and average illumination mode at the desk level of 40 footcandles; a uniformity ratio not exceeding 8:1; and a ceiling and upper wall brightness greater than or equal to 40 foot/lamberts.
-Provide a separate lighting system for the teaching wall that provides a white board brightness of at least 40 foot/lamberts. Meet the control requirements of prescriptive approach.
Credit 7.1: For natatoriums, demonstrate compliance with the “Typical Natatorium Design Conditions” defined in Chapter 4 (places of assembly) of the ASHRAE HVAC Applications Handbook, 2003 edition.
Credit 7.2:
