EBOM 2009 EAc6: Emissions Reduction Reporting

Paola, depending on your building type, there are different ways to document this information. If your building is ENERGY STAR eligible, your GHG emissions will automatically be calculated as part of your benchmarking activities in Portfolio Manager. You can document EAc6 by providing a copy of the Statement of Energy Peformance, 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. If you're not using Portfolio Manager to do your energy benchmarking, there are a lot of publicly available tools and calculators that may be used to calculate GHG emissions. Check with the EPA or U.S. Department of Energy websites first if you need these types of tools.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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?

Yes, you're eligible for this credit, but your emissions wouldn't be zero. You're still consuming energy and putting emissions into the environment, so whatever you provide for EAc6 would show some amount of positive emissions. For your own GHG accounting, you might be showing that the facility has offset 100% of it's energy consumption by purchasing RECs, but that is not relevant for this particular credit. The only way you could truly be a net-zero emissions company is if 100% of your energy consumption was generated through on-site or off-site renewable energy systems (i.e. solar, wind, etc.).

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.

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.

I think it's worth trying with the Energy Star default. If the reviewers do not accept it, it should be pretty easy to adjust the calculations using a emissions factor from your area (the tools on the GHG protocol website could help you to figure this out).

I'd like to post a similar question. Our project is an office building in Asia and we used the Portfolio Manager of Energy Star for EAp1. Will LEED accept the Greenhouse Gas Emissions obtained from the Statement of Energy Performance feature of the Portfolio Manager?

Pabs, see the requirements above. Energy Star Portfolio Manager is the main method that's used for complying with this credit.

Thank you Tristan and regards.

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.