Recap of Greenbuild Session "The Lighting Insider’s Look at LEED v4"

No one ever said deciphering the lighting credits in the LEED system was easy but in reviewing some of the key updates found in LEED v4, lighting designers Chad Groshart, Dane Sanders, Lee Brandt, and Glenn Heinmiller made the revisions accessible to the audience of 400 design and building industry professionals.

Here is a quick synopsis of some of the key points made during the "Lighting Insider's Look" presentation:

Associate director of London-based Atelier Ten, Chad Groshart, LEED AP, broke down the Lighting Energy credit, EAc2:

While this point has not changed that much, showing savings below the baseline has become more challenging.
LEED v4 references ASHREA 90.1-2010.
Greatest number of possible points is available in this credit.
LED and fluorescent are the sources most applicable for achieving this credit.

Founder and president of Nancy Clanton Associates, Dane Sanders, LEED AP, reviewed the Daylighting credit, EQc7. Key take-aways were:

The credit has been updated to better address glare control and climate-specific design.
Whereas LEED v3 allowed for four different calculation methods—modeling, prescriptive, measure, and a combination—LEED v4 focuses on just two calculation methods to evaluate annual sunlight exposure: time points (spatial daylight autonomy) or daylight modeling using the Equinox at 9a.m. and 3p.m.

Associate principal of Horton Lees Brogden Lighting Design, Lee Brandt, discussed the Interior Lighting credit, EQc6:

This credit combines an old point for Lighting Controls with a new credit point for Lighting Quality.
In LEED v4, you can achieve the Lighting Quality point via different strategies (two per) for lamps, lighting systems, material finishes, and illuminance. You need to employ four out of eight strategies to earn the credit.
For lamp strategies, 75 percent of the connected load must have a lamp life greater than 24,000 hours, and the entire project must have a CRI of greater than 80, except for special uses.
For lighting system strategies, recessed fixtures have to all be glare-free recessed luminaires in regularly occupied spaces, and for indirect luminaires only, less than 25 percent of the connected load can be direct-only in regularly occupied spaces.
For finish strategies for the walls, ceilings, floors, or furniture, reflectance levels should be approximately 80 percent on the ceiling, 50 percent on walls and 20 percent on floors.
For illuminance strategies, for at least 75 percent of regularly occupied floor area, ceilings or walls should have a 1:10 threshold to achieve occupant comfort.

Principal at Lam Partners, Glenn Heinmiller, LEED AP, presented two of the six new components in the Light Pollution credit, SSc6:

The revisions are meant to reduce the unnecessary complexity in the credit.
What's new? Lighting boundary definition for calculation purposes; option without computer simulation; no interior lighting requirement; existing trespass option simplified; limited façade and flag lighting; and internally-illuminated signs.
Definition of the lighting boundary: lighting boundary EQUALS the property line; lighting boundary DOES NOT mean the LEED project boundary.

BUG ratings: backlight, uplight, and glare-are also very important in determining Light Pollution Reduction credit. Coupled with the Lighting Zone designation (Zone 0, 1, 2, 3, or 4) will help determine the allowable luminaire. Remember that BUG ratings are a prescriptive metric and fixture based. Editor's note: Ecobuildingpulse.com's parent company Hanley Wood recently entered into a strategic partnership with USGBC regarding the management of the Greenbuild International Conference and Expo.For more information on that relationship, click here.