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How energy-efficient is your building?
How energy-efficient is your project building compared with the national average for similar building types? If your project building is already performing well, you may only need to document that performance in order to meet the prerequisite. If your building is relatively inefficient, on the other hand, may have to make operational changes or capital investments to make some improvements. Project teams with underperforming buildings may start by performing an energy audit to identify areas of waste, and the best opportunities for improving efficiency. There are a number of federal and regional programs that offer rebates or other financial incentives for energy upgrades, so capital investments may see relatively fast paybacks.
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90 Comments
Electricity impact factor
How is the source energySource energy is the total amount of raw fuel required to operate a building; it incorporates all transmission, delivery, and production losses for a complete assessment of a building's energy use. calculated for electricity in order to take into account he different fuel mixes for each region? Is that done by the Energy Star Portfolio Manager, or is there another standard that should be used?
Jenny Carney replied Director, YRG sustainability Jul 07 2009
Energy Star automatically uses national average source to site ratios for electricity production, and also has standard ratios for other fuel types. Project teams should always use Energy Star Portfolio Manager to calculate source energySource energy is the total amount of raw fuel required to operate a building; it incorporates all transmission, delivery, and production losses for a complete assessment of a building's energy use. use intensity.
Case 2 Calculators
Is there any way to access case 2 calculators prior to registering for a project to determine feasibility? they are not in the reference guide?
sophie durandeux replied Aug 17 2009
The calculators are available on the USGBC's website at http://www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CMSPageID=2054
To access this page you need to have a USGBC account.
Home / LEED / LEED Resources / Registered Project Tools / LEED 2009 for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance
EBOM 2008 VS EBOM 2009
Is there any real disadvantage to moving a project to LEED EBOMEBOM is an acronym for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance, one of the LEED 2009 rating sytems. 2009 from the 2008 version? This project is in a urban setting and no real documentation has been done.
Dan Ackerstein replied Principal, Ackerstein Sustainability, LLC Dec 23 2009
The pros/cons of moving from EBOMEBOM is an acronym for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance, one of the LEED 2009 rating sytems. to EBOM 2009 tend to be project specific and related to your goals in terms of points. Very generally, you'll find fewer points (relative to the minimums required for various certification levels) relating to purchasing, waste, and cleaning in EBOM 2009 than EBOM; in contrast, the 2009 rating system has 15 points associated with alternative transportation that may benefit a project in an urban setting. I would definitely recommend a close reading of the EBOM 2009 prerequisites; for the most part they are the same as in EBOM but some subtle distinctions exist. Overall, I suspect you'll find few disadvantages to making the switch.
Jenny Carney replied Director, YRG sustainability Dec 29 2009
I second the notion that you should do a side-by-side project specific comparison. The points reweighting in v2009 more handsomely rewards alternative transportation, water efficiency, and energy efficiency, so if you're doing great in those areas it may be a benefit to transition to 2009.
On the other hand, if there's no real difference in the point situation and you're familiar and comfortable with the 2008 requirements and submital process, it may better to stick with 2008. The LEED Online v3 platform will take some time to get familiar with, and as will any new launch, still has various glitches being worked out.
International Projects Benchmarking - Building Type Not in EStar
I'm wondering how to go about benchmarking for a European Project where the building type is a sports facility (not one of the Energy Star building types).
IFMAInternational Facility Management Association http://www.ifma.org/tools/research/about_euro_bench.cfm have a benchmark report for europe, but there's no mentioning of which building types are included.
Further more, the data seems scant:"More than 100 surveys were returned within a six-month period. A total of 105 surveys were used for analysis; however, very few of the respondents were able to provide all of the data requested. Not many of the surveys returned provide FTEFull-time equivalent (FTE) represents a regular building occupant who spends 8 hours a day (40 hours a week) in the project building. Part-time or overtime occupants have FTE values based on their hours per day divided by 8 (or hours per week divided by 40). Transient Occupants can be reported as either daily totals or as part of the FTE. Residential occupancy should be estimated based on the number and size of units. Core and Shell projects should refer to the default occupancy table in the Reference Guide appendix. All occupant assumptions must be consistent across all credits in all categories. allocation therefore this could not be covered in this report. Every effort has been made to ensure accuracy. Staff reviewed all surveys prior to entering data and contacted respondents for aberrant data. Despite this extensive effort, IFMA cannot assume responsibility for errors from research of this nature."
Getting this data may be impossible even when attempted here, due to the privacy factor. How does benchmarking against your own facility work? How would I get the "Project Building's annual weather-normalized Source EnergySource energy is the total amount of raw fuel required to operate a building; it incorporates all transmission, delivery, and production losses for a complete assessment of a building's energy use. Use Intensity (from Portfolio Manager)" if a) project is not in the USA and b) is not of any standard building type supported by EnergyStar?
Jenny Carney replied Director, YRG sustainability Mar 02 2010
Jean, my understanding is that you would still use the USGBC's Case 2 calculator in this case (The calculators are available on the USGBC's website at http://www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CMSPageID=2054), and the IFMAInternational Facility Management Association data may not even come into play unless you are eligible for and decide to pursue Case 2, Option 2c.
I agree that it's a good idea to investigate Case 2, Option 2b (comparison to historic data) first, once you verify that you are eligible for this approach. Anyone can freely sign up for an Energy Star account and use it to generate weather normalized source energySource energy is the total amount of raw fuel required to operate a building; it incorporates all transmission, delivery, and production losses for a complete assessment of a building's energy use. use data, reagardless of your building type or location in the world. You just create an account, add a project, enter the building location (many international cities are listed, but not all) and other details, provide the energy consumption data, and then you can have Energy Star output the weather normalized source EUI.
Hope this helps.
Jean Marais replied b.i.g. Bechtold INGENIEURGESELLSCHAFT MBH Mar 03 2010
I think you are right. Having looked into it a bit more, my only fear is running into a space type definition that doesn't exist, but then I'm bound to use the closest matching one. An example pops to mind straight away. The hall space with the ball court in the middle and the spectator stands around the perimeter in a sports arena. A "Performance" space type comes close...
Estabilishing the Energy use baseline
we are a SriThe solar reflectance index (SRI) is a measure of a material's ability to reject solar heat, as shown by a small temperature rise. Standard black (reflectance 0.05, emittance 0.90) is 0 and standard white (reflectance 0.80, emittance 0.90) is 100. For example, a standard black surface has a temperature rise of 90_F (50_C) in full sun, and a standard white surface has a temperature rise of 14.6_F (8.1_C). Once the maximum temperature rise of a given material has been computed, the SRI can be calculated by interpolating between the values for white and black. Materials with the highest SRI values are the coolest choices for paving. Because of the way SRI is defined, particularly hot materials can even take slightly negative values, and particularly cool materials can even exceed 100. Lankan company and we are planning on going for LEEDS EB OM certification. As we are a foreign entity we are facing problems on how to establish the Energy use base line.Further if we are to follow according to the Case 2, Option 2 of the reference guide we have a problem as we don’t have complete Energy data of the factory for past consecutive 3 years. The reason is that we purchased the factory couple of years back and the previous owners do not have any record of the energy use. Of course we can provide the Electricity use data of past 3 years but our problem lies in the energy data related to the Steam energy (Boiler) and Generator usage. We only have comprehensive data of about a year (Energy data representing all energy loads).
Please give us your opinion on how to proceed....
Jean Marais replied b.i.g. Bechtold INGENIEURGESELLSCHAFT MBH Mar 09 2010
As I understand it, the EBOMEBOM is an acronym for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance, one of the LEED 2009 rating sytems. certification is usually a 1-2 year process. Get the building ready (e.g. install the needed meters, etc.) and then start the "performance period" meaning start measuring and recording into Energy Star Portfolio Manager.
Your building is broken down into space types in the Portfolio Manager. These space types have their own "baseline". The Portfolio Manager then calculates the "baseline" for your whole building from these space types and geographic (i.e. weather normilized) data.
This is how I understand it, but I have no EBOM experience first hand yet, so double check me.
Regards,
Jean.
RASHID HAMEEN replied Mar 10 2010
Thanks for the information.
In the mean time do you know in calculating the fuel usage, whether the manual recorded fuel usage data is sufficient? Because at the moment our fuel usage is recorded manually by tracking the fuel inventory records. Do we have to use meters to the equipments in measuring as we can determine the monthly usage in the current method that we are following..
Jenny Carney replied Director, YRG sustainability Mar 10 2010
Rashid,
This is a bit of a tricky situation, since factory facilities generally really rely on showing improvement over the three-year historic baseline. Is it the type of factory for which you might be able to compare yourself to other facilities (e.g., are there other factories in the area that produce similar goods)?
Given your situation, manual recordings of fuel usage seems like it should be acceptable, but you may want to send in a CIRCredit Interpretation Ruling. Used by design team members experiencing difficulties in the application of a LEED prerequisite or credit to a project. Typically, difficulties arise when specific issues are not directly addressed by LEED information/guide at some point to get explicit clearance for this. Also, submeteringSubmetering is used to determine the proportion of energy use within a building attributable to specific end uses or subsystems (e.g., the heating subsystem of an HVAC system). specific equipment wouldn't be necessary, as long as you have a way to account for all of the energy used in the facility.
RASHID HAMEEN replied Mar 10 2010
Yes, there are similar types of facilities in same area that are in our industry. We can obtain their information. But even for that, do we have to obtain their historical information? By obtaining that information can you tell us that how can we establish the base line (is there a specific guideline give in LEED or can we do it by ourselves).
We still haven't registered the project and as far as i can understand to raise a CIRCredit Interpretation Ruling. Used by design team members experiencing difficulties in the application of a LEED prerequisite or credit to a project. Typically, difficulties arise when specific issues are not directly addressed by LEED information/guide we need to register. Is there any way we can clarify ourselves on this matter before registering the project?
Tristan Roberts replied Editor – LEEDuser, BuildingGreen, LLC Mar 17 2010
Rashid, I think you need to get in touch with GBCI to clarify this. Hopefully you will hear from them pretty quickly.
Existing building does not meet minimum energy efficiency
I have a client that has millions of square feet under roof. In 2006 they built a state of the art office/cooking lab building, designed for LEED NC 2.2. However they did not complete the LEED NC certification. They would really like to achieve LEED 2009 EBOMEBOM is an acronym for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance, one of the LEED 2009 rating sytems. certification on this building. However, using Energy Star Portfolio manager, they do not meet the rating of 69 as required by EAp2. Any suggestions?
Tristan Roberts replied Editor – LEEDuser, BuildingGreen, LLC Mar 23 2010
Karen, this is a basic question but an important one (in my view). Have you conducted an audit to identify energy waste, and low-cost ways to improve things? As you probably know you can get credit for this under EAc2.1.
Karen Stewart replied President, LEED AP, EcoPotential Mar 24 2010
We have conducted audit and recommissioned the building, resulting in many improvements. However, the improvements will never get us to the rating of 69. The office building has 20 test commercial kitchens. It is a 1 of a kind building.
Corinna Kester replied Consultant, Sustainable Buildings and Operations, KEMA Mar 24 2010
Hi Karen -
You might want to take a look at the LEED-EB: O&M v2008 EAp2 CIRCredit Interpretation Ruling. Used by design team members experiencing difficulties in the application of a LEED prerequisite or credit to a project. Typically, difficulties arise when specific issues are not directly addressed by LEED information/guide dated 3/2/2009. It outlines a path for exempting unique high energy use spaces in a building, if they are sub-metered and constitute less than 10% of the building square footage. I'm not sure how applicable this will be to your situation, but it may provide a direction for exploration; I have seen this approach utilized successfully for other buildings. If this approach seems fruitful, I'd recommend submitting a CIR before moving forward with your full LEED application, so you can lock in a ruling about your proposed approach.
RASHID HAMEEN replied Mar 24 2010
Dear Corina,
you have mentioned to Karen to refer to a CIRCredit Interpretation Ruling. Used by design team members experiencing difficulties in the application of a LEED prerequisite or credit to a project. Typically, difficulties arise when specific issues are not directly addressed by LEED information/guide dated 3/2/2009. Can you please tell me whether we can see CIR of other project than ours and if so, how are we to refer them? Do we need to register the project to be entitled to refer CIRs because we still haven't register our project. The other matter that came in to my mind is that even if we refer and find out that the rulings in another projects CIR is suitable for us when we are to apply for the certification we are required to submit our own CIR to USGBC. Am i correct on this?
Corinna Kester replied Consultant, Sustainable Buildings and Operations, KEMA Mar 25 2010
Hi Rashid - For versions of LEED prior to 2009, all CIRs are posted publicly. For LEED 2009, CIRs are not precedent-setting and are not published, according to GBCI policy. On this page, GBCI clearly states that the public CIR database may not be relied upon for LEED 2009 projects.
However, many of the compliance paths outlined in the CIR database are likely to remain pertinent to current projects. Because one can't predict which compliance paths are still accepted, the safest bet is to re-submit any CIRs from the CIR database that you would like to use for your LEED 2009 project. You'll want to submit any CIRs before you start your LEED process, to ensure that the compliance path you're planning to follow is acceptable to GBCI.
Also, I should note that there are hints that GBCI might be providing new methods for establishing precedent-setting rulings. See the CIRs discussion on LEEDuser here.
RASHID HAMEEN replied Mar 25 2010
Thanks Corinna..I tried to visit the links that you sent me but both of the web pages display as access restricted. I have an account created at USGBC even after logging through that i was not able to review them. If you have any ideas for this problem please post on it..Thank you.
Tristan Roberts replied Editor – LEEDuser, BuildingGreen, LLC Mar 25 2010
Rashid, you should be able to view the GBCI page without logging in. You'll have the log in to view the USGBC page. If that's not working for you I would suggest you contact USGBC. Sorry we can't help there.
Jenny Carney replied Director, YRG sustainability Mar 25 2010
Karen,
It's not clear to me that this building would be eligible for Energy Star based on the unusual load/space type of many cooking labs. I would suggest getting in touch with Energy Star to see how they recommend classifying this space, and it may turn out that you should be using the Case 2 calculator instead of Energy Star because your building isn't eligible to use Energy Star.
Karen Stewart replied President, LEED AP, EcoPotential Mar 25 2010
Corina,
We have looked at sub-metering to exclude the high energy use. However the sub-metering would costs over $50,000. Client does not want to spend that much on sub-metering that appears to not have an ROI.
Karen Stewart replied President, LEED AP, EcoPotential Mar 25 2010
Jenny,
Based on the information from Energy Star and multiple energy consultants, the building is eligible for an Energy Star rating and falls under Case 1. However, I think I will call them and see if there are any "exceptions to the rule." Thank you!
Jenny Carney replied Director, YRG sustainability Mar 31 2010
Please let us know what you find out!
Building Classification
We are working on a building for a private university. The building has classrooms, laboratories, offices, conference rooms and a small deli. From what I have read I believe it is an office building, but my team member believes it is an "option 2" building. Can anyone help us with what kind of building we have? Thanks for any help.
Jenny Carney replied Director, YRG sustainability Mar 25 2010
Mark,
This could go either way - it all depends on the relative square footages of the different space types. Is it primarily office with a little of the others types, you may be eligible for Energy Star and would need to perform the benchmarking via that tool. If the labs and classrooms comprise a good chunk of the space (more than 10%), than you're definitely looking at a Case 2 scenario.
The way to know for sure is to go ahead and enter the space types into the Energy Star Portfolio Manager tool, and based on the areas in the different categories, the tool will tell you if you are eligible for a rating or not. If not, then it's case 2 for you.
Good luck.
Baseline EUI errors with EAp2 Case 2 Calculators?
Any thoughts on EUI results that appear very incorrect when using the Case 2 Calculator? We're looking at a mixed use building that has a multi-family residential portion, so Portfolio Manager does not provide an Energy Star rating.
Entering the space types and areas in the Part III section of the Option 1 Tab to Calculate Benchmark Source EUI generates a source EUI far lower than what's been calculated for other fairly similar buildings in this region, and also nearly half the EUI that Target Finder provides for a comparable building with an Energy Star score of 50.
Should the Case 2 calculator's Baseline EUI be the same or similar to Target Finder's output for an Energy Star 50 building? It seems that Portfolio Manager won't provide an Energy Star score for a building with a multi-family residential component, but Target Finder will generate an EUI for building with that space type, and the using the "baseline" EUI suggested by Target Finder for a building with a score of 50 is more credible. Any thoughts?
Jenny Carney replied Director, YRG sustainability Mar 31 2010
David, I'm not sure how Target Finder is computing a baseline EUI for multifamily buildings, but in general Portfolio Manager, Target Finder, and the Case 2 calculator all make use of the CBECSThe Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS) is a national sample survey that collects information on the stock of U.S. commercial buildings, their energy-related building characteristics, and their energy consumption and expenditures. Commercial buildings include all buildings in which at least half of the floorspace is used for a purpose that is not residential, industrial, or agricultural, so they include building types that might not traditionally be considered "commercial," such as schools, correctional institutions, and buildings used for religious worship. CBECS data is used in LEED energy credits. database for national averages. One guess on why you are seeing such different values is that the calculator will be showing national average _source_ EUIs, and Target Finder may be reporting a _site_ EUI value.
Just a guess, but in any event I think there's no way to make the case for using Target Finder as a baseline in lieu of the calculator.
Exception on LEED_EBOM calculator
I’m working on a vehicle repair shop project that cannot get an Energy Star rating. The building is 10,000sqft and has 10,000sqft of parking with associated lighting. Using the calculator Option C (since this is a ‘service’ facility), there is an exception to not include the parking/garage space.
How does one get an accurate ‘Approximate percentile points above national average’ that includes both the facility and parking area?
Jenny Carney replied Director, YRG sustainability Apr 16 2010
From what I know, the CBECSThe Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS) is a national sample survey that collects information on the stock of U.S. commercial buildings, their energy-related building characteristics, and their energy consumption and expenditures. Commercial buildings include all buildings in which at least half of the floorspace is used for a purpose that is not residential, industrial, or agricultural, so they include building types that might not traditionally be considered "commercial," such as schools, correctional institutions, and buildings used for religious worship. CBECS data is used in LEED energy credits. database (which forms the basis of the Case 2 Calculator (Option BC Calculator for v2008), includes exterior energy use.
However, since this project needs to follow Case 2, Option 2 (Option C in v2008), you could choose to use the historic data approach. This allows you to compare you current energy performance to a baseline from the same building's historic performance. This will neutralize the effect of the parking size (assuming it hasn't increased or decreased).
You can also choose to do the benchmarking that uses historic data + comparable buildings to set the baseline. In this case, you'd either choose comparable buildings that have the same function and a similar ratio of building to parking, or could normalize the data from the comparable buildings accordingly. Good luck.
Retail Space and EAp2/EAc1
My question is about retail space and EAp2/EAc1. According to page xxiii of the Reference Guide, up to 10% of the floor area can be exempted from all credits (except EQp2) for multitenant buildings. However, Energy Star indicates that retail spaces that directly support the main activity of the building should be included under the "Office" space use type (see: http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=eligibility.bus_portfoliomanager_e...) in Portfolio Manager. How do these two guidelines fit together? Under what circumstances can I exclude a retail space from EAp2/EAc1?
Jenny Carney replied Director, YRG sustainability Apr 16 2010
Is all energy going to the retail space separately metered and under separate management control from the rest of the building?
D. G. replied Apr 19 2010
This question refers to several buildings.
In all cases, the retail space in question is under separate management control. In most cases, the space is separately metered, and in one case, it is not yet submetered, but we would add one.
Thank you!
Water info?
Hi, I was wondering if you need water bills to generate a Energy Star Rating. The Reference guide says "The energy data must include data from electricity, natural gas, fuel oil, diesel fuel, district steam or hot water, district chilled water, propane, and wood." Portfolio manager has a place to upload water meter info., but is this necessary to generate an energy star rating?
Corinna Kester replied Consultant, Sustainable Buildings and Operations, KEMA Apr 27 2010
Hi Rachael -
Water data is not necessary for EAp2/EAc1. You do not need to upload this information to get an Energy Star score. However, the water tracking portion of Portfolio Manager can be a useful (though not required) tool for complying with WEc1.
Rachael McClain replied Apr 27 2010
Thanks Corinna.
Minimum Occupancy
Does EAp2 require the building be minimally occupied. My client recently purchased a 10 story office building and is slowly converting it to lab space to be leased. The building is currently around 50% occupied. Are we able to begin the Performance Period at this occupancy, or do we have to wait until the building is fully occupied?
Any insight or resources would be greatly appreciated.
Jenny Carney replied Director, YRG sustainability May 12 2010
Ian, For most space types, including offices, the minimum occupancy is set at 50%. You can find details of how this is calculated/demonstrated in this technical document put out by USGBC: http://www.usgbc.org/ShowFile.aspx?DocumentID=6292
How to account for rented parking lot lighting?
Our facility is a 3-story suburban office building with one owner, and a large surface parking lot. All of the lighting in the parking lot is owned and maintained by the utility company, and we pay a monthly rental fee for the lighting. Do we need to include the usage of this lighting energy in our Energy Star calculations? (It's the same amount each month on our statement since we rent it for a flat rate, so no way to show savings due to photocells, timing adjustments, upgraded fixtures, etc.). The lighting is separately metered and on a different bill than the main building energy bill.
Jenny Carney replied Director, YRG sustainability Jun 01 2010
Kimberly - you should check out the PE Guide to Energy Star: http://www.energystar.gov/ia/business/evaluate_performance/pm_pe_guide.pdf
It details what can and cannot be excluded. Generally, teams have the option of either including or excluding exterior parking and the energy consumption associated with it, as long as it's submetered. However, if you don't report the energy, you need to make sure that you also excluding the parking area or you would end up with an artificially low score.
Must the start of the P.P. align with the Registration date?
After our preliminary energy audit we have determined that our building meets the minimum performance requirements for EAp2 achievement. This is based on the 12 months of data collected prior to registering the project for certification.
Can we use data collected prior to the date we registered the project to contribute towards our 12 month performance period? In essence we are looking to streamline the certification process by shortening the duration of the EAp2 performance period.
Tristan Roberts replied Editor – LEEDuser, BuildingGreen, LLC Jun 02 2010
Michael, I would recommend you check out this recent and very useful discussion on scheduling activities relative to registration. Short answer (as far as I understand things) would be yes, you can use that data, although I wouldn't describe it as shortening the performance period.
Michael Williams replied Jun 02 2010
very helpful. Thanks!
InternaionProjects Benchmark - Building Location Not in EStar
We are doing a LEED EB project in India. EStar having only 4 locations in India, our project location is only 100 mile far away from the EStar specified location. Climate are almost same of both cities. so my question is that can we take EStar specified city for Energy star benchmarking or should be use Offline calculator.
Jenny Carney replied Director, YRG sustainability Jun 10 2010
Ashu,
Choosing the location within the Energy Star list that is nearest is the right strategy, in my opinion, particularly if it has a similar climate. Generally, if the building is ratable by Energy Star (e.g., an office building), you must do the benchmarking that way.
Ashu Gupta replied Project Engineer Jun 21 2010
Thanks Jenny!
Steam Process loads
Are steam process loads such as cage washing and glass cleaning included in these calculations and do they need to be monitored and included in the EUI values?
How about domestic hot water? There is a separate steam to hot water heat exchanger for DHWDomestic hot water (DHW) is water used for food preparation, cleaning and sanitation and personal hygiene, but not heating. and this end use is not currently monitored.
Chris Nixon replied Manager, Sustainable Solutions, BRSC Jun 17 2010
Yes. Where are you getting your steam? If it's from a gas fired boiler on-site, then your monthly gas invoices will cover it. Likewise if you're using No. 2 fuel. If you've got a central distributed steam system where the steam is produced in a different building, then you need to meter it.
Energy Star classification for Convention Centers
Does anyone have advice or information on how best to classify an existing convention center in the Energy Star Portfolio Manager? We are interested in LEED certification under 2009 EB&OM v3.0. Building is roughly 330,000 sf and all exhibit halls and atria are conditioned.
thanks in advance for any info provided
Chris Nixon replied Manager, Sustainable Solutions, BRSC Jun 17 2010
Other-Entertainment Culture. I've got a letter from Energy Star if you need it.
Jenny Carney replied Director, YRG sustainability Jun 24 2010
Chris - so if it's an "other" category, seems this type of building is not eligible for an Energy Star rating, right?
Chris Nixon replied Manager, Sustainable Solutions, BRSC Jun 28 2010
That's correct. You still need to set up an account in Portfolio Manager to calculate the kBtu/sqft Energy IntensityThe ratio of consumption to unit of measurement (floorspace, number of workers, etc.) Energy intensity is usually given on an aggregate basis, as the ratio of the total consumption for a set of buildings to the total floorspace in those buildings. Conditional energy intensity and gross energy intensity are presented. The energy intensity can also be computed for individual buildings., but you won't receive an Energy Star score. You need to use the LEED EB: O&M EA p2 and EAc1 Case 2 Calculator. That shows an Adjusted National Average Source EUI (kBtu/sf) of 265. You need to beat that by 19%. To get the calculator go on the USGBC website. Select LEED/LEED Resources/LEED Resources & Tools. It's under the EA section.
The International Association of Assembly Managers has been lobbying to get an Energy Star rating for Convention Centers, but the EPA says that they can't do it in the near future due to budgetary constraints.
Renewable Energy to improve Efficiency
If I have a PV system to offset the building energy use can I use it to show performance over 19% to meet the prerequisite (like in NC) or does the building efficiency stand alone to show 19% improvement from baseline?
Thanks for your earlier response.
Jenny Carney replied Director, YRG sustainability Jul 21 2010
Heidi,
Energy Star's rules on this changed last year...now you need to include electricity from onsite solar or wind in your benchmarking, which means that they don't help you to meet the performance threshold. Here's a document from EPA with more detail about this change: http://www.energystar.gov/ia/business/evaluate_performance/RenewableEner...
Jenny Carney replied Director, YRG sustainability Jul 21 2010
Heidi,
Energy Star's rules on this changed last year...now you need to include electricity from onsite solar or wind in your benchmarking, which means that they don't help you to meet the performance threshold. Here's a document from EPA with more detail about this change: http://www.energystar.gov/ia/business/evaluate_performance/RenewableEner...
discrepancy in main meter and sub; calibration
1) if there is a discrepancy between the actual main meter of the energy supplier and the submeterSubmetering is used to determine the proportion of energy or water use within a building attributable to specific end uses such as tenant spaces, or subsystems such as the heating component of an HVAC system. total (sub meter total is around 8 to 10% less), which data should we input for the portfolio manager? can we use the total from the main meter reading then appropriated into the percentage breakdown of service (HVAC, Lighting, Misc, etc) based on the submeter readings?
2) if the sub meters are due for calibration, will the data log still be valid or do they need to be calibrated before making any entries?
Jenny Carney replied Director, YRG sustainability Jun 24 2010
One of the supporting documents for to substantiate your energy benchmarking for this prerequisite is utility bills, so your Portfolio Manager inputs should match the values reported to you by the utility. There's no need to breakdown consumption by end use for this prereq (though a breakdown by end use is a part of the energy auditing for EAp1, and also comes into play if you are pursuing the submeteringSubmetering is used to determine the proportion of energy use within a building attributable to specific end uses or subsystems (e.g., the heating subsystem of an HVAC system). credits.
Pablo Fortunato Suarez replied Principal ESD Consultant/Architect, GreenArc Sustainable Building & Architecture Jun 25 2010
Thanks Jenny. Yes I ask in relation to submeteringSubmetering is used to determine the proportion of energy use within a building attributable to specific end uses or subsystems (e.g., the heating subsystem of an HVAC system). as well. The discrepancy (between total of submeterSubmetering is used to determine the proportion of energy or water use within a building attributable to specific end uses such as tenant spaces, or subsystems such as the heating component of an HVAC system. and utility bill) is in the order of about 6%, not 8%. Will this be acceptable?
Tristan Roberts replied Editor – LEEDuser, BuildingGreen, LLC Jul 01 2010
Since as Jenny said, this credit is based on the utility bills, it doesn't look like an issue to me.
Pablo Fortunato Suarez replied Principal ESD Consultant/Architect, GreenArc Sustainable Building & Architecture Jul 05 2010
Thanks Tristan.
In LEEDuser EAc3.2 notes state:
"The total annual energy usage reported in your energy-use breakdown must be within 10% of the total annual energy use reported in EAc1. The annual energy use reported for EAc1 is derived directly from utility bills whereas the breakdown reported for this credit is derived from commissioning or auditing activities, utility bills, or spot or other metering." I guess this answers my question.
varying occupancy thru time - for this and related credits
My client has been hiring more regular employees over the past few months. As such the number of occupants is also expected to increase. What figure should we use as regular occupants? Is this based on our date of application, start or end of performance period? Or is there a LEED accepted methodology?
Tristan Roberts replied Editor – LEEDuser, BuildingGreen, LLC Jul 05 2010
Pablo, I think Jason had a good answer to your similar qustion on the WEp1 forum in this comment.
I would say the bottom line is to use a consistent methodology that is reasonable for your project, and to make sure that it doesn't appear inconsistent to GBCI reviewers.
Jenny Carney replied Director, YRG sustainability Jul 12 2010
Pablo, for this particular credit it's important to follow the guidelines Energy Star establishes. The PE Guide (http://www.energystar.gov/ia/business/evaluate_performance/pm_lp_guide.pdf) gives some insight into how to determine average annual occupancy. If you have further questions, I'd recommend getting in touch with Energy Star directly, since ultimately the benchmarking for LEED Case 1 must be performed according to Energy Star's protocol.
Numbers of freezers in Portfolio Manager
I am surprised that the portfolio manager takes the number of freezers instead of capacity of freezers. I calculate that by increase number of nine freezers we can increase Energy star rating by one point. In our project we have one big freezer instead of 5-6 small freezers. thus i would like to know that is there any capacity of freezer defined by Energy star?
Jenny Carney replied Director, YRG sustainability Jul 30 2010
Ashu, you might want to check directly with Energy Star on this. I know for some space types they do distinquish between walk-in units versus open/close units, and in general in my experience they are looking at commercial grade equipment, not smaller items.
Calibration?
The Rating System calls out to "Calibrate meters within the manufacturer’s recommended interval if the building owner, management organization or tenant owns the meter. Meters owned by third parties (e.g., utilities or governments) are exempt." There is not a whole lot of coverage in the "Getting It Done" portion of the website to adequately address this. It might be good to add for a project team's check list of things to do. For EAc1 as well!
For an actual question, as energy metering data may be excluded for up to 10% of the building’s gross floor area, are there any thoughts out there regarding the same exclusion for calibration for the excluded area? Based on my reading of the Ref Guide, I'm apt to say no exclusion for calibration of any meters.
John Beeson replied Chief Mystic in Resident, betterENVIRONMENT, LLC Jul 15 2010
Oh, and calibration isn't identified in the "Action Steps" image either....
Jenny Carney replied Director, YRG sustainability Jul 21 2010
Hi John - yes, as stated in the credit requirements building-owned meters do need to be calibrated, but this is a pretty rare situation. Most all buildings perform the energy benchmarking by using data from utility-owned meters. Exceptions might be...hmm, maybe a campus situation with district systems? Most team's won't need to deal with this, hence it not being highlighted as a key action step.
If you do happen to be using data from building-owned meters in your benchmarking, in my opinion there is no reason to think you can exclude any of them from the calibration criteria.
John Beeson replied Chief Mystic in Resident, betterENVIRONMENT, LLC Jul 22 2010
Thanks Jenny,
I guess, like in other credits with lots of options, an action step could be useful to list if the team does have a building-owned meter. Provides a little reminder check that it was thought about and considered (even if it ends up that they don't have any bldg-owned ones). maybe?
If the data from the building-owned meter is excluded per the reasons stipulated in the Ref Guide (data center, etc), would it still require calibration?
Tristan Roberts replied Editor – LEEDuser, BuildingGreen, LLC Jul 24 2010
John, I heard the feedback here loud and clear and your comments will inform our updates here.
Data centers - 'Apply Estimates' option (no meter)
In performing our benchmark, we have surveyed our building for data centers (in accordance with Portfolio Manager) and inputted the square footage of data centers, and selected the option 'IT Energy is not currently metered at this facility- Apply Estimates' The LEED Ref Guide states no default values can be used. It seems this is not a default value as defined by Portfolio Manager, and would be acceptable, because Portfolio Manager still provides a score using this method, and allows for application for the label.. However, I wanted to raise this issue, and hear everyone's thoughts/ comments?? Thanks very much!
Jenny Carney replied Director, YRG sustainability Jul 30 2010
Daycia, Since the current RG was written well before Energy Star came out with various revised guidelines, there are bound to be a some issues like this that will be popping up.
My understanding is that Energy Star, with it's brand new data center benchmarking, will allow you to apply estimated energy for data centers only a) if the data center is less than 10% of the total building floor area, and b) up until June 2012. Informally, my understanding is that LEED will allow this as well.
And everyone, get ready for June 2012 by getting those UPS Output or PDU Input installed!!
Daycia Bowman replied Aug 03 2010
Thanks very much. Two follow up questions. Question #1: Will USGBC require any backup documentation to show the data centers have UPS and dedicated cooling? Question #2: Leeduser is a wonderful reference but are the answers posted here something that we can be sure will align with our project review? I do not exactly understand the role of leeduser in all cases. Should we request a CIRCredit Interpretation Ruling. Used by design team members experiencing difficulties in the application of a LEED prerequisite or credit to a project. Typically, difficulties arise when specific issues are not directly addressed by LEED information/guide on this to be certain? Thanks for any clarifications.
Tristan Roberts replied Editor – LEEDuser, BuildingGreen, LLC Aug 03 2010
Daycia, as the editor for LEEDuser I can speak to question #2.
It's important for us to note that LEEDuser is an independent resource, and USGBC and GBCI are the final authorities on the LEED standards and certification. LEEDuser provides advice, but GBCI gives the final word when it comes to certification.
That said, LEEDuser was built with the expert guidance of a team of dozens of the top LEED experts in the world, many of whom have lots of experience doing LEED reviews, serving on LEED committees, and more. Our forum is filled with hundreds more people like this. There are a lot of gray areas and uncharted waters in LEED, and these folks have the insight and experience to be able to give good guidance on how things will go.
We also closely monitor feedback from reviewers and LEED addenda, and watch how LEED Online forms are working, to stay up-to-date on how LEED is being officially interpreted.
We often recommend that teams get a CIRCredit Interpretation Ruling. Used by design team members experiencing difficulties in the application of a LEED prerequisite or credit to a project. Typically, difficulties arise when specific issues are not directly addressed by LEED information/guide on a specific issue to be certain of something, but on the other hand, we can often give fairly definitive answers, or suggest that it's not worth the money.
Does this clarify things?
Daycia Bowman replied Aug 03 2010
Yes, thanks. Ok, so then follow up to the follow up: (1) Should we request a CIRCredit Interpretation Ruling. Used by design team members experiencing difficulties in the application of a LEED prerequisite or credit to a project. Typically, difficulties arise when specific issues are not directly addressed by LEED information/guide regarding data centers? (2) The original question remains - what supporting documentation will be required regarding data centers? Thanks very much.
Jenny Carney replied Director, YRG sustainability Aug 11 2010
Daycia, if I were you I personally wouldn't bother with a CIRCredit Interpretation Ruling. Used by design team members experiencing difficulties in the application of a LEED prerequisite or credit to a project. Typically, difficulties arise when specific issues are not directly addressed by LEED information/guide as in almost all cases USGBC/GBCI is pretty likely to align with the Energy Star guidance.
You could use an customer service question with your assigned LEED reviewer if you've already registered and want something directly from GBCI guiding you on this.
As far as I am aware, there would not be any different documentation requirements beyond what Energy Star requires as inputs related to your data centers.
International Project
Is international project (outside US) not eligible to get EPA rating for LEED EB certification? is it necessary to choose national benchmark option to earn these points.
Jenny Carney replied Director, YRG sustainability Jul 30 2010
Ashu, if the building type (e.g., office) is eligible for an Energy Star rating, the team must use Case 1 - Energy Star. International projects can still generate a rating for an eligible space type. See the top of p. 157 of the v2009 Reference Guide for information about how to generate ratings for buildings outside of the Unites States.
Vacant Space
Portfolio Manager guidance currently indicates that if vacant space is less than 10%, then it should be grouped with occupied space. However, I read the USGBC Information Guidance version 1 issued 10/8/09 regarding 'Reduced Occupancy', and it indicates that vacant space should be separated. Portfolio Manager recently changed there guidance on this, so this probably is due to the fact that whomever put together the guidance did not notice the change in Portfolio Manager. Or perhaps the change occurred shortly after the guidance was issued. My question is - wouldn't the USGBC align with Portfolio Manager guidance for benchmarking? Would they take a different stance than Portfolio Manager recommendations? And finally, our vacant office space is less than 10%. Should we separate it out? It's frustrating that we have been following Portfolio Manager guidance to the letter, and now discover contradicting guidance from the USGBC. It certainly seems the two should be congruent. As a property manager, it would not make sense to have two entries in Portfolio Manager - one for LEED and one for earning the label. Please advise.
Jenny Carney replied Director, YRG sustainability Aug 26 2010
Given that USGBC Reduced Occupancy Guidance document explicitly states that its guidance for EAp2/EAc1 is identical to the Energy Star guidance, seems safe to assume that a) USGBC fully intended to mirror Energy Star, and b) Energy Star subsequently changed its guidance.
If I were you, I would follow the current Portfolio Manager guidance. If you are very worried that it won't be accepted for LEED (seems unlikely), you can always try your hand with GBCI customer service.
Office Building - submeter and exclude kitchen/cafe space & kwh
I am working on a project in a single tenant office building that has a kitchen/cafeteria run by a third party and that takes up less than 10% of the facility. I want to have a submeterSubmetering is used to determine the proportion of energy or water use within a building attributable to specific end uses such as tenant spaces, or subsystems such as the heating component of an HVAC system. installed and then to exclude the energy usage from this space type. Is it as simple as having a meter installed and then subtracting out their usage from the utility bills? Are there any common misteps to be concerned about?
Thanks
Christopher Schaffner replied Principal, The Green Engineer, LLP Aug 09 2010
It's that simple. Ideally you add the submeterSubmetering is used to determine the proportion of energy or water use within a building attributable to specific end uses such as tenant spaces, or subsystems such as the heating component of an HVAC system. before your performance period, so you can subtract out accurate data.
Jenny Carney replied Director, YRG sustainability Aug 11 2010
Petros, Does this cafeteria serve the regular building occupants? You may want to check with Energy Star directly to see if they would sanction the exclusion of this energy, since cafeterias are commonly present in office buildings, and it's not clear to me how this would fit with their benchmarking rules. Particularly since there is only one tenant in this building, it would be hard to make the case that the cafeteria is under separate control (even if a third-party is contracted to run it, it sounds like it is in the service of the sole tenant).
Purchased wind energy
I have a client who has purchased all of his electricity from the Texas Wind Energy farm. Being wind energy, the source energySource energy is the total amount of raw fuel required to operate a building; it incorporates all transmission, delivery, and production losses for a complete assessment of a building's energy use. is almost the same as the site energy. However, since it's not generated on site, Portfolio Manager uses the source to site energy ratio of approximately 3:1. I realize that purchasing RECs does not make a facility more energy efficient, but by purchasing wind energy it is using roughly 2/3 of the source energy it would otherwise be using. When we select the Texas Wind Energy Farm it doesn't help with the ratio. Has anyone else experienced this? Would Option C be an option? Thanks.
Tristan Roberts replied Editor – LEEDuser, BuildingGreen, LLC Aug 29 2010
I'm not sure I agree with your premise. A lot of the loss in going from source to site energy is in transmission inefficiencies.
Do you have any data on this?
Chris Nixon replied Manager, Sustainable Solutions, BRSC Aug 30 2010
Yes. He has a letter from the power company estimating the transmission losses. However, there should be no generation losses. I think he has a valid point. When Energy Star calculates the performance ratings methodology for incorporating source energySource energy is the total amount of raw fuel required to operate a building; it incorporates all transmission, delivery, and production losses for a complete assessment of a building's energy use. use for electricity, they estimate the efficiency of the boiler, turbine, etc, and then calculate how much fuel is required to produce that electricity. Well, if the fuel is wind, and they're buying all of their electricity from a wind farm, the only source energy losses should be transmission losses. After I thought about it more last Friday, I recommended that he write a letter to Energy Star. I think it's a glitch in their system. I'll let you know how it turns out.
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