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Sustainable Sites 4.3 – Alternative Transportation – Low Emitting and Fuel Efficient Vehicles

Low Emitting & Fuel Efficient Vehicles

Intention:

  1. Reduce Pollution from auto use
  2. Reduce land development from auto use

Implementation:

  • Option 1:
  1. provide low emission cars (yes, provide cars to people), with preferred parking (0.03 FTE)
  • Option 2:
  1. provide preferred parking for low emission cars (0.05 total parking spaces)
  • Option 3:
  1. prodive charging station and refuel stations for low emission cars (0.03 total parking spaces)
  • low emission car = ZEV (zero emisson vehicle) = minimum energy star of 40.
  • preferred parking EXCLUDES handicap spaces

Codes/Standards Applied:

  1. none

Extra Credit:

  • One SS4 extra credit point allowed by creating a ‘comprehensive transportation management plan.

Submittal Phase:

  • design

Links from Reference Guide:

  1. American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy
  2. California Certified Vehicles List
  3. Electric Auto Association
  4. Electric Drive Transportation Association
  5. Fuel Economy Web Site
  6. Union of Concerned Scientists Clean Vehicle Program

Other Sustainable Sites Credits

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17 Comments On This Post

  1. I FOUND ONE QUESTION

    THE ENVIRONMENTAL RESOURCE GUIDE IS A:
    A. COMPREHENSIVE GUIDE DOCUMENTING MATERIALS’ LIFE-CYCLE ANALYSIS
    B. PUBLICATION OF THE EPA’S LIST OF APPROVED PRODUCTS
    C. DOCUMENT OF FEDERAL GUIDELINES FOR ENVIRONMENTAL PRACTICES
    D. ENVIRONMENTAL GUIDELINES FOR WASTEWATER TREATMENT AND OUTFLOW

    MAYBE YOU GIVE ME THE CORRECT ANSWER?

    Reply
  2. Desmand:

    Here is an except from a description of the Environmental Resource Guide (ERG):

    “The ERG gives architects and others in the building industry a basis for comparing the environmental impact of building materials, products and systems. It provides a consistent format for assessing the environmental impacts of building materials from their original extraction and manufacture to their final disposal or reuse. The ERG was launched by the AIA in 1992 with funding from the EPA to create a simplified methodology for assessing the environmental impact of building materials, and as a vehicle for disseminating that information to the building community at large. The AIA Press has brought in Wiley as a publishing partner to improve its content, format, packaging and marketing.”

    This being said, I would go with A – anybody else have a thought?

    Reply
  3. Isn’t it supposed to be a GREEN SCORE of 40 instead of Energy Star? or are they the same thing?

    “For the purposes of this credit, low-emitting and fuel-efficient vehicles are defined as vehicles that are either classified as Zero Emission Vehicles (ZEV) by the California Air Resources Board or have achieved a minimum green score of 40 on the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy (ACEEE) anual vehicle rating guide.”

    Reply
  4. Desmand and intheleed,

    Where in the world did you find this question and any reference to the ERG? I cannot find any reference to the Environmental Resource Guide anywhere in the Reference Guide or on the website, so why would it be required knowledge for the exam?

    Gary

    Reply
  5. Gary,

    I don’t know where Desmand got this question from. From my understanding, it’s not something that is required to know for the exam. The ERG is a link on the USGBC website as a resource, however:

    http://www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CMSPageID=76

    Reply
  6. Pat,

    Thanks for this clarification. I appreciate your on-going work on this website.

    Gary

    Reply
  7. For the option 1 calc fro # of Veh. do you round up or down? I am taking the BuildingGreen.com practice test and the answer for # 72 (pick 3) is ABC. For answer, “A” it rounds down to 9 even though the calculated answer is 9.6 vehicles.

    Reply
  8. Hi Chris,

    The answer is a whole number, 9, as you take 0.03*FTE. FTE in this case is 200 for full time and 100 for half time. Peak users are insignificant for this equation (You’re probably thinking of Bicycle Storage and Changing Rooms).

    Therefore, the calculated answer is:

    0.03 * 300 = 9

    Hope this helps! Thanks!

    Reply
  9. Pat — option 1 you state is to “provide low emission cars (yes, provide cars to people), with preferred parking (0.03 FTE)”

    I don’t beleive the Owners are required to buy cars to people, just preffered parking for hyrbids and such.

    Reply
  10. nevermind above posting. you’re right.

    Reply
  11. Hi Pat,
    I just purcahsed the walkthroung and feel the tips and summaries are quite useful there. I have one confusion .

    In credit SS 4.3 when you calculate the % preffered parking do you exclude the parking reserved for handicapped from the GRAND TOTAL parking and then calculate or the calculation is on reckoned on GRAND TOTAL parking only including handicapped parking.

    Please clarify.

    Reply
  12. Hi Dipankar,

    I’m glad you feel the Walkthrough is useful. Thanks!

    Regarding your question, you will calculate the GRAND TOTAL parking spots including the handicap (again, this is for the calculation). The reference guide states to calculate it from the “total number of parking spaces in the project…”

    I think the whole “exclude
    spaces designated for handicapped thing is just so that you don’t forget that although this is “preferred parking” on the lot, the handicapped spaces take precedence, meaning, they get the “best spots”.

    You can take a look at this string on the ARE forum that is about this exact question. Hope it helps!

    http://www.areforum.org/forums/view_topic.php?id=51678

    Reply
  13. Very Useful Pat, Thanks

    Reply
  14. I have worked out a calculation for our parking spaces needed. For the purposes of LEED do you always round up, or follow the rule of anything over .5 is rounded. For instance I have 128 parking spaces and need to provide .05, so I get 6.4, do I need 6 or 7 spaces?

    Reply
  15. Angie,

    You would need 7 spaces.

    LEED, and codes for that matter, require you to round up with any fraction.

    Jim

    Reply
  16. I am also curious about the rating of 40, is it Green Score or Energy Star? Or are they interchangeable? I was under the impression that energy star was more for evaluating energy consumption in appliances

    Reply
  17. SSc4.3 “Interpretation” – can someone explain the paragraph about the Propane stations (3rd bullet point), especially the phrase “Also, such stations [propane stations] can be outside the defined site boundaries (so we are in the refueling stations option, ok) so long as the proposed new parking lot for the total parking capacity served by this refueling station is located within the site area utilized in the calculations for all Credits”. What do they mean by “within site area”? We just determined this propane station and its pkg lot are OUTSIDE of the project site. Is “within” the 500m(545ya) requirement? Also, there is no mentioning about how to calculate the parking lot size of this propane station.
    Scratching my head…Please help. Has anyone encountered any question on the exam or practice about this?

    Reply

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