Leed EQ Credit 7.1 applied to an Industrial Facility

[cluelessinohio]

Has anyone applied and successfully received the point for Leed EQ Credit 7.1 Thermal Comfort in a large facility which is mainly sheet metal welding and part assembly?

Typical facilities do not need to be cooled to office conditions but tempered 5 to 10 degrees below ambient outside conditions with no humidity control.

How does ASHRAE 55 apply to this type of facility?

 

[cry22]

You could try.

I am guessing your project is in Ohio since your name says so.

You should combine IAQ sensors with Ennergy recovery units, I assume you have the localized exhaust for your welders, etc. Implement a demand controlled ventilation in the process.
Thermal comfort is better achieved with radiant heat in the winter for amchine shops (watch that monorail being in the way of your radiant heaters).

I did such a thing (machine shop with the monorail) where I had Radiant heat as the primary source of heat, and gas-fired ERU's as secondary heat for make-up when IAQ sensors indicate PPM above OSHA TLV.

If you could implement some kind of air washer to your make-up air during summer ventilation, you'd be dealing with the humidity aspect of ASHRAE 55. The whole thing is to demonstrate a thermal comfort for the specific application.

This is a good application where you could challenge the codes in CFM/SF quantities, you could get by with less air in winter if you monitor your IAQ (heating with radiant heat), actually shut-down your ventilation system if IAQ is OK.

A combination of all these should give you your points (it's all about points isn't it? otherwise, we wouldn't be talking ASHRAE 55 would we?).

 

[cluelessinohio]

Thanks cry22 but this is not what I am looking for.

EQ Credit 7.1 intent is to provide a comfortable thermal environment the supports productivitiy and well being of the building occupants. In order to acheive this credit, the building envelope and HVAC systems need to meet the requirements of ASHRAE 55.

If I was designing an office I could easily show that I meet the requirement for ASHRAE 55 but in an industrial application, this may not be practical.

ASHRAE 55 methods of determining acceptable thermal comfort talks about methods applicable to metabolic rates 1.0 to 2.0 mets. In most industrial facilities metabolic rates would be between 2.0 and 4.0 depending on the process. ASHRAE 55 states in section 5.1 "The vast majority of available thermal comfort data pertains to sedentary or near sedentary physical activity levels typical of office work. This standard is intended primarily for these conditions."

So my question is: How can ASHRAE 55 be used to determine acceptable thermal conditions (design criteria) in an industrial application?

 

[mikanical]

This may be a good question for a CIR (credit interpretation request) for the USGBC to response too. You may want to check through the existing CIRs on the LEED website to see if this has been addressed in a previous LEED project.