Full Access to 13 LEED NC and CI Documentation Submittals... MOTHER LODE!!!

This post makes me extremely happy for two reasons. The first is that I can let you know about a website that gives you access to completed documentation for 10 LEED-NC certified projects and 3 LEED-CI certified projects!!! (Sidenote - I realize I've been pretty heavy on the exclamation points lately, but there's just too much good info lately to resist! I promise I'll calm down soon)

The second is that it's a culmination of why I started this blog in the first place. I know a tiny bit about LEED and share it with you, you let me know what I've missed, I share that info, and then we all know everything! Super special thanks to Edgar Farrera of MarmonMok Architecture. Edgar read the post about the free LEED-EB documentation, realized that he knew a far more comprehensive resource, and decided to let me know about it. The result? This post! ...and there we come full circle.

Harvard LEED Certified Building Submittals

Gooooooo Crimson!!!

Not to be outdone by a mere public school, Harvard has amassed an impressive collection of LEED documentation that is very conveniently organized by credit. If ten buildings earned EAc4, then you can see all the buildings that earned it at a glance. There is only one LEED-NC version 2.2 building completed to date (seven for v2.1 and two for v2.0), but they have an additional nine buildings listed as "In Progess". Of those, five are scheduled for completion in 2008, so I'd check back frequently for updates. In any case the only credits they don't have LEED-NC documentation for are:

  • WEc2 - Innovative Wastewater Technologies
  • MRc1.3 - Building Reuse
  • MRc3 - Materials Reuse

I could go on about how great this is and all the features (many of which have not been mentioned), but really you should just check it out yourself.

My new best friend Edgar also pointed out "that the reason some colleges and universities are making this type of information available to the public is that as signatories to the American College & University Presidents Climate Commitment they are called upon to share and disseminate their campus greening initiatives and action plans." This means that it's likely we will see other colleges reporting the same information. If you know of another resource we missed, please let us know by leaving a comment!

13 comments:

Ashley said...

Wow. This is so incredibly helpful... I really appreciate Harvard for making so much information available, and Joel for posting all of these helpful resources!!

nathangauthier said...

Glad you like it. We're in the process of some major improvements that will be released very soon (green materials powered by a data base instead of static content for example). Another site I created with our web designer (nut under the Harvard name, but the same team) is www.leedapprep.com, which is a free, community based tool for taking LEED AP practice exams. You can add questions and take randomly generated exams. The site is fully functional, though there is still a bit of text editing to be done to the non-question related content (disclaimers and that sort of thing). Enjoy.

Nathan Gauthier
Assistant Director
Harvard Office for Sustainability
(fomerly Harvard Green Campus Initiative)

joelmckellar said...

Nathan,

Thanks for the great resource... If I remember correctly, didn't you help with the Half-Moon Outfitter's LEED-Platinum distribution warehouse? I vaguely remember Beezer saying something about that.

Thanks for reading!

Joel

Anonymous said...

Hey, this is helpful. I've been complaining to USGBC for years that SSc8 - Light Pollution Reduction is unreasonably strict and have been trying to get them to change. They're response to me was that "XX% of projects have gotten this credit and we do not feel it possess any undue burden."

I've never seen documentation for a project with site lighting that got this credit. Now I can see. And I see that they don't met the requirements. But still somehow managed to get the credit. I guess it helps providing calculations with an accuracy of 0.1 fc when you're trying to measure 0.01 fc. This credit has really gotten me bitter.

Unknown said...

Joel, yes I worked on Half Moon (one of my favorite projects).

Bill, a lot of projects use a zero lot line exeption for egress lighting when they have too much trespass at the site boundary.

Anonymous said...

Hi there. I want to get LEED accredited, but not sure if I should buy the whopping 150 dollars guide book 2.2 online when the LEED 2009 is coming in the near future? Would it be best if I wait until it comes out and buy the newer version, or should I study for 2.2. I'm hoping to take the test either December or January.

Anonymous said...

Nathan- By zero lot line do you mean that the property line is at the street curb? Check the CIR ruling from 6/19/2008 about required life safety lighting outside when a door exits directly to the property line. It does allow extra light at the property line but "In all areas the light trespass 15ft (LZ3) beyond the property/curb line must meet the 0.01fc requirement." I'm not aware of any exception that ever allows the 0.01fc requirement to have not been met.

The Wyss Hall project had some good dialog going back and forth with the submittal. They said the 6/15/2004 CIR Ruling allowed a campus wide to meet this credit but the whole campus had to meet the requirements by the time the project was completed. And that all I saw was a letter stating what the University's goals were to meet this credit. No calculations were submitted for the whole campus. Any calculations that I did see were shown around a single building and did not meet the requirements of this credit.

I thought it was nice that the University retrofited their old light fixtures to reduce light pollution while keeping the feel of the old lanterns on the campus. They even tested the light output of the fixture in a lab. While this has done a good job of reducing light pollution it shows my point of how difficult this credit is. A 50W HPS lamp on a pole that is 6'-4" high and the light level reaches 0.02fc about 20feet away on the front and back sides of the fixture and about 42 feet away on the sides. Now imagine trying to light that parking lot on the South side of the campus and meeting these requirements of 0.01fc at 10' beyond the property line. I'd be curious to see how this is done while maintaining the 10:1 ratio the University is trying to maintain on the whole site.

Sorry to be so winded but I've spent a lot of time on this credit.

joelmckellar said...

Anonymous,

You're right that LEED 2009 is coming soon, and dropping the money on a 2.2 reference guide might only be good for taking the test if you're not currently working on any 2.2 projects.

On the other hand, I feel pretty confident (but can't guarantee) that if you're taking the test around December/January that it will be the 2.2 version. I don't expect the 2009 version of the exam to be rolled out until well into next year, but haven't been able to find a schedule from GBCI so far.

Hope that helps!

Unknown said...

This is an amazing resource! Thank you so much!

Anonymous said...

Thanks so much! We will definitely be using the Aldrich Hall Online templates for referral at Environmental Building Strategies

Thanks again!

CV88 said...

This is a great resource! But Harvard has not used the the new LEED for Schools Minimum Acoustical Performance EQp3 Criteria on their projects that I can find. Does anyone have an example of the documentation submittals for LEED for Schools EQp3 Minimum Acoustical Performance?

Anonymous said...

LEED for Schools is intended for K-12 education. Harvard would not be able to use EQp3 criteria.

Anonymous said...

I am currently working on a k-12 school that was registered under LEED for schools 2007. Has anyone found an example of the documentation required for EQp3? I understand that Harvard does not have this documentation, but was wondering if anyone knows of another resource that might.

Thanks very much in advance for any help!