Page 331 - The Engineering Guide to LEED-New Construction Sustainable Construction for Engineers

LEED Indoor Envir onmental Quality 293

6.9 Discussion and Overview
This category covers indoor air quality, indoor thermal comfort, indoor lighting, and
views. In the future, these and other important indoor environmental concerns will be
expanded upon. For example, in the USGBC LEED for Schools rating system released
in 2007, both a prerequisite and a credit have been added that relate to acoustics or
sound pollution. Currently, however, the major focus is on indoor air quality as the
impacts on the human occupants of the buildings have been shown to be important.
There are other alternatives for promoting good indoor air quality. There may be the
potential for many other types of monitoring other than CO , and other ways to “clean”
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indoor air than through outdoor air exchanges, which is very important in dense urban
areas or other areas where outside air quality is not always up to the National Ambient
Air Quality Standards (NAAQS). These technological alternatives may eventually
become other supplemental options in the indoor air quality credit subcategories or earn
innovation credits. Two new technologies that are being developed to improve air quality
with respect to microbes and pathogens in indoor environments are UV lighting and
copper components such as heat exchanger fins, cooling coils, and condensate drip pans
in the HVAC systems. More information about the possible advantages of copper can be
found on the website of the Copper Development Association (CDA) (http://www.copper.
org/). Figure 6.9.1 depicts a factory installation of UV lights in a Trane air handler.

FIGURE 6.9.1 UV lights in a Trane air handler which help keep the surface of the coil and drain
pan clean. (Photograph Courtesy Trane.)