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Tracking energy consumption
This credit is easily achieved by tracking monthly energy consumption of the project building through the use of Portfolio Manager. In order to comply, you simply need to generate a Statement of Energy Performance (SEP) that shows the associated GHG emissions.
Go for a more rigorous analysis?
Using the Energy Star Portfolio Manager to earn the credit is fairly easy and straightforward. However, you also have the option of performing a more rigorous analysis in order to report emissions reductions using a third-party voluntary reporting program, such as WRI/WBCSD or EPA Climate Leaders.
Track and reduce your greenhouse gas emissions via this credit.Projects electing to perform the more rigorous analysis will find this a more challenging undertaking. The analyses are more comprehensive and go beyond just a simple review of building energy consumption. However, the results will be much more detailed and valuable and can help to inform decisions regarding the implementation of specific energy-efficiency initiatives that would help to reduce emissions.Understanding WRI/WBCSD
The World Resources Institute/World Business Council on Sustainable Development (WRI/WBCSD) Greenhouse Gas Reporting Protocol is the most widely used international accounting tool for government and business leaders to understand, quantify, and manage greenhouse gas emissions.
However, WRI/WBCSD approaches emissions tracking and reporting on the scale of an entire company rather than by individual building. The WRI/WBCSD tools are adaptable to single-building applications, but take care to fully understand this adjustment; If your entire company uses more buildings than just your project building, you won’t be able to take full advantage of these tools and are probably better off using Portfolio Manager.
Parent company GHG inventory
Consider whether your parent corporation has participated in a GHG inventory that includes the data for your specific building. You may make use of the results of such an inventory, but must also summarize building-specific data to highlight the emissions for your project building only.
Consider these questions when approaching this credit:
- Are you tracking energy consumption data in Energy Star Portfolio Manager? If so, you’ll have a head start on this credit and will be able to easily generate an emissions report from their website.
- Are you interested in participating in a more detailed third-party voluntary reporting program to track and report emissions data for your building? This can be a much more time-intensive process and while it may produce more useful results, these programs are setup to analyze at the corporate level and are not designed to address individual buildings.
FAQs for LEED-EBOM EAc6
If my project is using Energy Star Portfolio Manager to benchmark my building, are the emissions reported within Portfolio Manager considered reported "through formal participation in a third-party voluntary reporting or certification program,” as required by the credit?
Yes, your GHG emissions will automatically be calculated as part of your benchmarking activities in Portfolio Manager and this output is considered to be acceptable by USGBC. You can document this credit by providing a copy of the Statement of Energy Performance, along with a description of the energy efficiency initiatives that have been implemented at the building and the corresponding amount of emissions reduction that can be attributed to each initiative.
What is the best way to demonstrate energy efficiency initiatives that have been implemented at the building and the corresponding amount of emissions reductions?
One of the easier ways to demonstrate emissions reductions is to figure out how much energy you're saving due to the efficiency measure (these can easily be taken from the low-cost measures listed in the energy audit completed as a part of EAp1) and then multiply that amount by the appropriate emissions factor. You can find emissions factors for different fuel types and different parts of the country on the Energy Information Administration's website. Here’s an example:
- Energy Efficient Action: Install CO2Carbon dioxide sensors to reduce the ventilation during lower occupancy levels.
- GHG Emission Reduction: CO2 sensors reduce 10 metric tons of carbon emissions each year.
My project is located outside of the U.S.—can I still document this credit using Energy Star Portfolio Manager?
Yes. Energy Star Portfolio Manager includes some key international cities that can be selected if they are in the same country and share similar climate patterns. Alternatively, projects can use default factors from Portfolio Manager for projects outside the U.S.
Are projects eligible for this credit if they are purchasing renewable energy credits that offset 100% of the annual energy consumption?
Yes. But keep in mind that your emissions wouldn't be zero even though you’re offsetting them. A project is still consuming energy regardless of purchased offsets. The only way you could truly be a net-zero emissions company is if 100% of your energy consumption was generated through onsite or off-site renewable energy systems.
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USGBC
Excerpted from LEED 2009 for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance
EA Credit 6: Emissions reduction reporting
1 point
Intent
To document the emissions reduction benefits of building efficiency measures.
Requirements
Identify building performance parameters that reduce conventional energy use and emissions, quantify those reductions and report them to a formal tracking program:
Track and record emissions reductions delivered by energy efficiency, renewable energy and other building emissions reduction measures, including reductions from the purchase of renewable energy credits or carbon offsets.
Report emissions reductions using one of the following:
- A third-party voluntary reporting or certification program such as U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Climate Leaders, ENERGY STAR, the Carbon Disclosure Project or World Resources Institute / World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WRI/WBCSD) protocols
- International Organization for Standards (ISO) 14064-1:2006 Greenhouse gases, Part 1, Specification, with guidance at the organization level for quantification and reporting of greenhouse gas emissions and removals
Potential Technologies & Strategies
Address all of the significant types of pollutants reduced by energy efficiency. This is important because negative health effects and other environmental impacts result from many pollutants, including carbon dioxide (CO2Carbon dioxide), sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides (NOx), mercury (Hg), small particulate matter (PM2.5), large particulate matter (PM10) and volatile organic compounds (VOCsA volatile organic compounds (VOCs) is a carbon compound that vaporizes (becomes a gas) at normal room temperatures. VOCs contribute to air pollution directly and through atmospheric photochemical reactions (excluding carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, carbonic acid, metallic carbides and carbonates, and ammonium carbonate) to produce secondary air pollutants, principally ozone and peroxyacetyl nitrate.). Energy efficiency, renewable energy and other building emissions reduction measures make important contributions toward improving human and environmental health.
Publications
World Resource Institute/World Business Council on Sustainable Development Greenhouse Gas Reporting Protocol
The Greenhouse Gas Protocol is the most widely used international accounting tool for government and business leaders to understand, quantify, and manage greenhouse gas emissions. The GHG Protocol, a decade-long partnership between the World Resources Institute and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development, is working with businesses, governments, and environmental groups around the world to build a new generation of credible and effective programs for tackling climate change1. Climate change refers to any significant change in measures of climate (such as temperature, precipitation, or wind) lasting for an extended period (decades or longer). (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 2008) 2.The increase in global average temperatures being caused by a buildup of CO2 and other greenhouse gases in the atmosphere. This temperature change is leading to changes in circulation patterns in the air and in the oceans, which are affecting climates differently in different places. Among the predicted effects are a significant cooling in Western Europe due to changes in the jet stream, and rising sea levels due to the melting of polar ice and glaciers..
Web Tools
EPA Energy Star Portfolio Manager
ENERGY STAR is a government-industry partnership managed by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy. The program’s website offers energy management strategies, benchmarking software tools for buildings, product procurement guidelines, and lists of ENERGY STAR–qualified products and buildings.
Energy Information Administration
The Energy Information Administration is a government agency that maintains up to date emissions factors for different fuel types and different parts of the country.
Organizations
U.S. EPA Climate Leaders
Climate Leaders is an EPA industry-government partnership. Partner companies commit to conducting a corporate-wide inventory of GHG emissions based on a quality management system, setting aggressive reduction goals and reporting progress annually to EPA.
Program Documentation
Document participation in a third-party emissions-reduction program using a copy of the Energy Star Portfolio Manager Statement of Energy Performance (as shown here), or a copy of certification through a third-party voluntary reporting program.
LEED Online Forms: EBOM-2009 EA
The following links take you to the public, informational versions of the dynamic LEED Online forms for each EBOMEBOM is an acronym for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance, one of the LEED 2009 rating sytems.-2009 EA credit. You'll need to fill out the live versions of these forms on LEED Online for each credit you hope to earn.
Version 4 forms (newest):
- EAp2: Minimum Energy Peformance
- EAp3: Fundamental Refrigerant Management
- EAc2.1: Commissioning—Investigation & Analysis
- EAc4: Onsite and Offsite Renewable Energy
- EAc5: Enhanced Refrigerant Management
Version 3 forms:
- EAp1: Energy Efficiency Best Mngt. Practices
- EAp2: Minimum Energy Peformance
- EAp3: Fundamental Refrigerant Management
- EAc1: Optimize Energy Performance
- EAc2.1: Commissioning—Investigation & Analysis
- EAc2.2: Commissioning—Implementation
- EAc2.3: Commissioning—Ongoing Commissioning
- EAc3.1: Perf. Measurement—BAS
- EAc3.2: Perf. Measurement—System-Level Monitoring
- EAc4: Onsite and Offsite Renewable Energy
- EAc5: Enhanced Refrigerant Management
- EAc6: Emissions Reduction Reporting
These links are posted by LEEDuser with USGBC's permission. USGBC has certain usage restrictions for these forms; for more information, visit LEED Online and click "Sample Forms Download."
LEEDuser is produced by BuildingGreen, Inc., with YR&G authoring most of the original content. LEEDuser enjoys ongoing collaboration with USGBC.
28 Comments
Use of EA Cr 6 for a CS Project
Hi,
I'm wondering if anyone has tried attempting this credit as an ID strategy in a CS project. I realize the intent is to show reduction during the performance period of and existing building, but I was thinking we could use the guidelines here to develop a tracking program for implementation, in addition to showing comparable efforts from the owner's other buildings. The owner has a similar, though not as extensive process in place, but this effort would serve to improve their current policies and reporting processes.
Additionally, it is likely that the building would attempt EBOMEBOM is an acronym for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance, one of the LEED 2009 rating sytems. at a later time. The major tenant is also planning on targeting CI for Gold.
Thoughts?
Statement Of Energy Performance valid for France ?
Hi,
I'm a french engineer and I'm wondering if the SEP considers the region of the study.
Indeed my site is in France, thus does the GHG emissions result use french emission factor ?
Same question with the national median comparison.
Thank you for your answers.
Florian
What happend if the result of SEP on GHG emission is "N/A"
Hi,
I used the EPA's manager Program, and the result for GHG emission in MtCO2 were N/A, this result represents a problem to comply whit this credit?
Thanks in advance.
Hi David,
Check out the comments a few slots down from March 22. This problem has been happening for other folks too, and a work around may be to use a screenshot from Portfolio Manager due to the emissions not showing up on the Statement of Energy Performance.
EAc6 review comment.
Has anybody recieved a comment on this credit along the lines of, "provide a summary of actions relating to energy efficiency and emissions reductions estimate the relative contribution of each action to the buildings GHG emissions reductions." ?
If so, How did you respond?
Thank you
Jason
An example of what they are looking for is:
Energy Efficient Action
Install CO2Carbon dioxide sensors to reduce the ventilation during lower occupancy levels.
GHG Emission Reduction
CO2 sensors reduce 10 metric tons of carbon emissions each year.
I had a similar comment from GBCI. How do you calculate carbon emissions for each energy efficient measure?
You just figure out how much energy you're saving due to the efficiency measure and then multiply that amount by the appropriate emissions factor. You can find emissions factors for different fuel types and different parts of the country on the Energy Information Administration's website at http://www.eia.gov/oiaf/1605/emission_factors.html.
PE Stamp on SEP
EAc1 and EAp2 don't require a PE seal. Is it really required on the SEP submittal for this credit? The guidebook says the SEP "requires confirmation by a validated professional engineer." This seems like an odd requirement for this credit, but not the other two. - Thanks
A PE stamp is only required to show credit compliance if EPA's Portfolio Manager is used.
Yes, this is an odd requirement since a PE is not required to verify the information used to document EAc1 and EAp2.
Anyone else have thoughts to why the reference guide was written as such?
Hmm. I just checked out the Reference Guide, and that statement regarding the PE stamp only shows up in the "Examples" section, as far as I can tell...So my guess is that the example was just trying to give some flavor for how Energy Star works, and the statement doesn't really stand as a requirement for compliance (the example section is kind of soft content in the Reference Guide, not the place for laying down the law).
I've never seen a reviewer reject an SEP submitted for EAc6 due to a lack of a stamp.
Just this week one of my projects received the Project Review Report; for the Emissions Reductions Credit they did not flag us for not having a PE verify the CO2Carbon dioxide emission calculations. (we used the EPA Portfolio Manager program)
On page #227 of the reference guide, under the"Timeline" heading it states that "a team that uses EPA's Portfolio Manager program to calculate the CO2 emissions must have a professional engineer verify the calculations".
Apparently they don't enforce this. . . well, at least not on this project.
Hi,
For this credit the Professional engineer needs to be a professional in United States?
I’m an environmental Engineer in Mexico, but I can't add mi professional license on EPA's portfolio manager program, because it only has the option to select a state from US.
Does exists a way to add a license from Mexico?
Thanks in advance,
David - the consensus seems to be that the requirement for a PE at all seems to be in error. I'm not sure if there is a way to add a license from Mexico, but really it shouldn't be necessary to provide the license.
Emission Reporting using Energy Star
When i click on the "select view" then to Performance :GHG emission, i can see the current total GHG emission value, but when i try to generate SEP (Statement of Energy Performance) report, the GHG emission value shown - n/a.
therefore, i not sure how i can submit my ghg report to LEED online. is a snap shot of the Energy Star screen help for my submission support for this credit.
Jason - we've been seeing this problem too. I think a screen shot of the portion of Portfolio Manager that's displaying the GHG emissions would be a good alternative upload, along with an explanation that the SEP is currently not showing this.
Calculation of GES equivalent to REC
The RECA Renewable Energy Certificate (REC) is a certificate representing proof that a given unit of electricity was generated from a renewable energy source such as solar or wind. These certificates are able to be sold, traded, or bartered as environmental commodities, where an electricity consumer can buy the renewable energy attributes of electricty to support renewable energy, even if they are consuming generic grid-supplied electricity that may be supplied by nonrenewable sources.'s provider has no GES equivalent for the amount of kWhA kilowatt-hour is a unit of work or energy, measured as 1 kilowatt (1,000 watts) of power expended for 1 hour. One kWh is equivalent to 3,412 Btu. we purchased, but we want tpTotal phosphorus (TP) consists of organically bound phosphates, polyphosphates, and orthophosphates in stormwater, the majority of which originates from fertilizer application. Chemical precipitation is the typical removal mechanism for phosphorus. consider this purchased in our LEED submittals.
Should we convert the amount of REC in GES using the GES produced by our energy source or the GES produced by the energy source where the renewable energy (from the REC we purchased) was generated?
Magda - I'm not familiar with "GES"...what does that refer to? Also, are you considering this mostly for inclusion in this credit, or for the renewable energy credit (EAc4)?
Hi Jenny, I'm sorry for the cofusion; we're based in Montreal, Quebec. That abbreviation is French for GHG (Green House Gasses).
Magda, how are you calculating your emissions for electricity use? I'd recommend just figuring out the emissions associated with grid electricity consumption for your building (you can use GRI resources to find national emissions factors, or there are lots of other sources out there), and then deducting from that a percentage equal to the percent of electricity you are offsetting with RECs. If you have purchased RECs equal to 50% of your total electricity use, you can claim a 50% reduction from what would occur none of your electricity emissions were offset. Make sense?
credit EA6 Start date considered for an SEP?
We used a previously PE signed SEP. Does the 24 month period for performance start at the SEP Generated date, the SEP date or 12 months prior to one of those dates? Here are the dates; SEP Generated date is 11-2-2009, SEP date is 9-30-2009. I am working on a clarification request and was directed to provide the SEP that corresponds with the performance period. I plan to back up the performance period start date to cover that PE signed SEP, just want to know which start date to use.
Not sure if I'm following all those dates, but let me give a general response. You're allowed to extend the performance period for any credit back 24 months from the latest performance period end date for your project. So if all of your credits end on January 10, 2011, you can claim measured performance back as far as January 10, 2009.
When it comes to the Statement of Energy Performance from Portfolio Manager, those summaries are generated for a specific 12-month period. You specify an end date and the tool gives you an Energy Star score associated with the preceding 12 months.
So, if you want your SEP to align with your performance period, I'd suggest generating a new SEP using an end date that matches or closely matches the latest performance period end date in your project. Remember that your credits don't all have to have the same performance period end date - as long as they all fall within a shared 30-day window, you'll be fine.
Summary Narrative of Actions and CO2 reductions
I was wondering of the narrative must only include efficiency and other actions during the performance period, or can you include "recent" improvements, as well as future improvements identifed during the audit period.
One of the cornerstones of the EBOMEBOM is an acronym for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance, one of the LEED 2009 rating sytems. rating system is that project teams are rewarded for measured performance. Tracking for all credits, including EAc6, relies solely on actual implementation during the performance period. Future activities, or past activities that occurred more than 24 months prior to the LEED application date will not be considered compliant.
Is the LEED application date you refer to the date the project was registered, the start of the performance of period or the date we submit the project for review?
Cynthia, I believe Jason is referring to the date the project is submitted for review.
LEED Online - Protocol Tools or Calculators
The LEED Online template for EAc6 asks to "Upload completed protocol tools or calculators presenting data for building energy use emissions." in addition to the formal documentation from Energy Star Portfolio Manager or a similar third party program. What tools or calculators could they be referring to that are separate from the document generated by Energy Star?
Protocol tools and/or calculators, as I understand, are supplied if you use a something other than Energy Star to calculate your emissions (e.g., GHG Protocol). Most teams just provide the Energy Star document.
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