Log in
LEED v2009
Schools
Energy and Atmosphere
Optimize Energy Performance

LEED CREDIT

Schools-2009 EAc1: Optimize Energy Performance 1-19 points

See all forum discussions about this credit »

Credit achievement rate

XX%

Upgrade to LEEDuser Premium to see how many projects achieved this credit. Try it free »

LEEDuser expert

Marcus Sheffer

7group / Energy Opportunities
LEED Fellow

LEEDuser’s viewpoint

Frank advice from LEED experts

LEED is changing all the time, and every project is unique. Even seasoned professionals can miss a critical detail and lose a credit or even a prerequisite at the last minute. Our expert advice guides our LEEDuser Premium members and saves you valuable time.

Credit language

USGBC logo

© Copyright U.S. Green Building Council, Inc. All rights reserved.

Requirements

4 points mandatory for projects registered on or after April 8, 2016.
Select 1 of the 3 compliance path options described below. Project teams documenting achievement using any of the 3 options are assumed to be in compliance with EA Prerequisite 2: Minimum Energy Performance.
Option 1. Whole building energy simulation (1-19 points)
Demonstrate a percentage improvement in the proposed building performance rating compared with the baseline building performance rating. Calculate the baseline building performance according to Appendix G of ANSI/ASHRAE/IESNA Standard 90.1-2007 (with errata but without addenda1) using a computer simulation model for the whole building project. Projects outside the U.S. may use a USGBC approved equivalent standard2. The minimum energy cost savings percentage for each point threshold is as follows:

New Buildings

Existing Building Renovations

Points

12%

8%

1

14%

10%

2

16%

12%

3

18%

14%

4

20%

16%

5

22%

18%

6

24%

20%

7

26%

22%

8

28%

24%

9

30%

26%

10

32%

28%

11

34%

30%

12

36%

32%

13

38%

34%

14

40%

36%

15

42%

38%

16

44%

40%

17

46%

42%

18

48%

44%

19

Appendix G of Standard 90.1-2007 requires that the energy analysis done for the building performance rating method include all the energy costs associated with the building project. To achieve points under this credit, the proposed design must meet the following criteria:
  • Compliance with the mandatory provisions (Sections 5.4, 6.4, 7.4, 8.4, 9.4 and 10.4) in Standard 90.1-2007 (with errata but without addenda) or USGBC approved equivalent.
  • Inclusion of all the energy costs within and associated with the building project.
  • Comparison against a baseline building that complies with Appendix G of Standard 90.1-2007 (with errata but without addenda) or USGBC approved equivalent. The default process energy cost is 25% of the total energy cost for the baseline building. If the building’s process energy cost is less than 25% of the baseline building energy cost, the LEED submittal must include documentation substantiating that process energy inputs are appropriate.
For the purpose of this analysis, process energy is considered to include, but is not limited to, office and general miscellaneous equipment, computers, elevators and escalators, kitchen cooking and refrigeration, laundry washing and drying, lighting exempt from the lighting power allowance (e.g., lighting integral to medical equipment) and other (e.g., waterfall pumps). Regulated (non-process) energy includes lighting (e.g., for the interior, parking garage, surface parking, façade, or building grounds, etc. except as noted above), heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) (e.g., for space heating, space cooling, fans, pumps, toilet exhaust, parking garage ventilation, kitchen hood exhaust, etc.), and service water heating for domestic or space heating purposes. For this credit, process loads must be identical for both the baseline building performance rating and the proposed building performance rating. However, project teams may follow the exceptional calculation method (ANSI/ASHRAE/IESNA Standard 90.1-2007 G2.5) or USGBC approved equivalent to document measures that reduce process loads. Documentation of process load energy savings must include a list of the assumptions made for both the base and proposed design, and theoretical or empirical information supporting these assumptions. Projects in California may use Title 24-2005, Part 6 in place of ANSI/ASHRAE/IESNA Standard 90.1-2007 for Option 1.

OR

Option 2 does not provide enough points for projects that registered on or after April 8, 2016 to meet the four point mandatory minimum.
Option 2. Prescriptive compliance path: Advanced Energy Design Guide for K-12 School Buildings (1 point)
Comply with all the prescriptive measures identified in the Advanced Energy Design Guide for K-12 School buildings. Project teams must comply with all applicable criteria as established in the Advanced Energy Design Guide for the climate zone in which the building is located. Projects outside the U.S. may use ASHRAE/ASHRAE/IESNA Standard 90.1-2007 Appendices B and D to determine the appropriate climate zone.
  • Projects using Option 2 must be less than 200,000 square feet (18,000 square meters).

OR

Option 3 does not provide enough points for projects that registered on or after April 8, 2016 to meet the four point mandatory minimum.
Option 3. Prescriptive compliance path: Advanced Buildings™ Core Performance™ Guide (1-3 points)
Comply with the prescriptive measures identified in the Advanced Buildings™ Core Performance™ Guide developed by the New Buildings Institute. The building must meet the following requirements:
  • Less than 100,000 square feet (9,300 square meters).
  • Comply with Section 1: Design Process Strategies, and Section 2: Core Performance Requirements.
  • Health care, warehouse or laboratory projects are ineligible for this path (for NC & CS Projects).
Points achieved under Option 3 (1 point):
  • 1 point is available for all projects (office, school, public assembly, and retail projects) less than 100,000 square feet (9,300 square meters) that comply with Sections 1 and 2 of the Core Performance Guide.
  • Up to 2 additional points are available to projects that implement performance strategies listed in Section 3: Enhanced Performance. For every 3 strategies implemented from this section, 1 point is available.
  • The following strategies are addressed by other aspects of LEED and are not eligible for additional points under EA Credit 1:
    • 3.1 — Cool Roofs
    • 3.8 — Night Venting
    • 3.13 — Additional Commissioning
Projects outside the U.S. may use ASHRAE/ASHRAE/IESNA Standard 90.1-2007 Appendices B and D to determine the appropriate climate zone.

1Project teams wishing to use ASHRAE approved addenda for the purposes of this prerequisite may do so at their discretion. Addenda must be applied consistently across all LEED credits.

2 Projects outside the U.S. may use an alternative standard to ANSI/ASHRAE/IESNA Standard 90.1-2007 if it is approved by USGBC as an equivalent standard using the process identified in the LEED 2009 Green Building Design and Construction Global ACP Reference Guide Supplement.

Pilot ACPs Available

The following pilot alternative compliance path is available for this credit. See the pilot credit library for more information. EApc95: Alternative Energy Performance Metric ACP
See all forum discussions about this credit »

What does it cost?

Cost estimates for this credit

On each BD+C v4 credit, LEEDuser offers the wisdom of a team of architects, engineers, cost estimators, and LEED experts with hundreds of LEED projects between then. They analyzed the sustainable design strategies associated with each LEED credit, but also to assign actual costs to those strategies.

Our tab contains overall cost guidance, notes on what “soft costs” to expect, and a strategy-by-strategy breakdown of what to consider and what it might cost, in percentage premiums, actual costs, or both.

This information is also available in a full PDF download in The Cost of LEED v4 report.

Learn more about The Cost of LEED v4 »

Checklists

Step by step to LEED certification

LEEDuser’s checklists walk you through the key action steps you need to earn a credit, including how to avoid common pitfalls and save money.

See all forum discussions about this credit »

Documentation toolkit

The motherlode of cheat sheets

LEEDuser’s Documentation Toolkit is loaded with calculators to help assess credit compliance, tracking spreadsheets for materials, sample templates to help guide your narratives and LEED Online submissions, and examples of actual submissions from certified LEED projects for you to check your work against. To get your plaque, start with the right toolkit.

Credit achievement rate

XX%

Upgrade to LEEDuser Premium to see how many projects achieved this credit. Try it free »

LEEDuser expert

Marcus Sheffer

7group / Energy Opportunities
LEED Fellow

Get the inside scoop

Our editors have written a detailed analysis of nearly every LEED credit, and LEEDuser premium members get full access. We’ll tell you whether the credit is easy to accomplish or better left alone, and we provide insider tips on how to document it successfully.

USGBC logo

© Copyright U.S. Green Building Council, Inc. All rights reserved.

Requirements

4 points mandatory for projects registered on or after April 8, 2016.
Select 1 of the 3 compliance path options described below. Project teams documenting achievement using any of the 3 options are assumed to be in compliance with EA Prerequisite 2: Minimum Energy Performance.
Option 1. Whole building energy simulation (1-19 points)
Demonstrate a percentage improvement in the proposed building performance rating compared with the baseline building performance rating. Calculate the baseline building performance according to Appendix G of ANSI/ASHRAE/IESNA Standard 90.1-2007 (with errata but without addenda1) using a computer simulation model for the whole building project. Projects outside the U.S. may use a USGBC approved equivalent standard2. The minimum energy cost savings percentage for each point threshold is as follows:

New Buildings

Existing Building Renovations

Points

12%

8%

1

14%

10%

2

16%

12%

3

18%

14%

4

20%

16%

5

22%

18%

6

24%

20%

7

26%

22%

8

28%

24%

9

30%

26%

10

32%

28%

11

34%

30%

12

36%

32%

13

38%

34%

14

40%

36%

15

42%

38%

16

44%

40%

17

46%

42%

18

48%

44%

19

Appendix G of Standard 90.1-2007 requires that the energy analysis done for the building performance rating method include all the energy costs associated with the building project. To achieve points under this credit, the proposed design must meet the following criteria:
  • Compliance with the mandatory provisions (Sections 5.4, 6.4, 7.4, 8.4, 9.4 and 10.4) in Standard 90.1-2007 (with errata but without addenda) or USGBC approved equivalent.
  • Inclusion of all the energy costs within and associated with the building project.
  • Comparison against a baseline building that complies with Appendix G of Standard 90.1-2007 (with errata but without addenda) or USGBC approved equivalent. The default process energy cost is 25% of the total energy cost for the baseline building. If the building’s process energy cost is less than 25% of the baseline building energy cost, the LEED submittal must include documentation substantiating that process energy inputs are appropriate.
For the purpose of this analysis, process energy is considered to include, but is not limited to, office and general miscellaneous equipment, computers, elevators and escalators, kitchen cooking and refrigeration, laundry washing and drying, lighting exempt from the lighting power allowance (e.g., lighting integral to medical equipment) and other (e.g., waterfall pumps). Regulated (non-process) energy includes lighting (e.g., for the interior, parking garage, surface parking, façade, or building grounds, etc. except as noted above), heating, ventilating, and air conditioning (HVAC) (e.g., for space heating, space cooling, fans, pumps, toilet exhaust, parking garage ventilation, kitchen hood exhaust, etc.), and service water heating for domestic or space heating purposes. For this credit, process loads must be identical for both the baseline building performance rating and the proposed building performance rating. However, project teams may follow the exceptional calculation method (ANSI/ASHRAE/IESNA Standard 90.1-2007 G2.5) or USGBC approved equivalent to document measures that reduce process loads. Documentation of process load energy savings must include a list of the assumptions made for both the base and proposed design, and theoretical or empirical information supporting these assumptions. Projects in California may use Title 24-2005, Part 6 in place of ANSI/ASHRAE/IESNA Standard 90.1-2007 for Option 1.

OR

Option 2 does not provide enough points for projects that registered on or after April 8, 2016 to meet the four point mandatory minimum.
Option 2. Prescriptive compliance path: Advanced Energy Design Guide for K-12 School Buildings (1 point)
Comply with all the prescriptive measures identified in the Advanced Energy Design Guide for K-12 School buildings. Project teams must comply with all applicable criteria as established in the Advanced Energy Design Guide for the climate zone in which the building is located. Projects outside the U.S. may use ASHRAE/ASHRAE/IESNA Standard 90.1-2007 Appendices B and D to determine the appropriate climate zone.
  • Projects using Option 2 must be less than 200,000 square feet (18,000 square meters).

OR

Option 3 does not provide enough points for projects that registered on or after April 8, 2016 to meet the four point mandatory minimum.
Option 3. Prescriptive compliance path: Advanced Buildings™ Core Performance™ Guide (1-3 points)
Comply with the prescriptive measures identified in the Advanced Buildings™ Core Performance™ Guide developed by the New Buildings Institute. The building must meet the following requirements:
  • Less than 100,000 square feet (9,300 square meters).
  • Comply with Section 1: Design Process Strategies, and Section 2: Core Performance Requirements.
  • Health care, warehouse or laboratory projects are ineligible for this path (for NC & CS Projects).
Points achieved under Option 3 (1 point):
  • 1 point is available for all projects (office, school, public assembly, and retail projects) less than 100,000 square feet (9,300 square meters) that comply with Sections 1 and 2 of the Core Performance Guide.
  • Up to 2 additional points are available to projects that implement performance strategies listed in Section 3: Enhanced Performance. For every 3 strategies implemented from this section, 1 point is available.
  • The following strategies are addressed by other aspects of LEED and are not eligible for additional points under EA Credit 1:
    • 3.1 — Cool Roofs
    • 3.8 — Night Venting
    • 3.13 — Additional Commissioning
Projects outside the U.S. may use ASHRAE/ASHRAE/IESNA Standard 90.1-2007 Appendices B and D to determine the appropriate climate zone.

1Project teams wishing to use ASHRAE approved addenda for the purposes of this prerequisite may do so at their discretion. Addenda must be applied consistently across all LEED credits.

2 Projects outside the U.S. may use an alternative standard to ANSI/ASHRAE/IESNA Standard 90.1-2007 if it is approved by USGBC as an equivalent standard using the process identified in the LEED 2009 Green Building Design and Construction Global ACP Reference Guide Supplement.

Pilot ACPs Available

The following pilot alternative compliance path is available for this credit. See the pilot credit library for more information. EApc95: Alternative Energy Performance Metric ACP

XX%

Upgrade to LEEDuser Premium to see how many projects achieved this credit. Try it free »

Got the gist of EAc1 but not sure how to actually achieve it? LEEDuser gives step-by-step help. Premium members get:

  • Checklists covering all the key action steps you'll need to earn the credit.
  • Hot tips to give you shortcuts and avoid pitfalls.
  • Cost tips to assess what a credit will actually cost, and how to make it affordable.
  • Ideas for going beyond LEED with best practices.
  • All checklists organized by project phase.
  • On-the-fly suggestions of useful items from the Documentation Toolkit and Credit Language.

In the end, LEED is all about documentation. LEEDuser’s Documentation Toolkit, for premium members only, saves you time and helps you avoid mistakes with:

  • Calculators to help assess credit compliance.
  • Tracking spreadsheets for materials purchases.
  • Spreadsheets and forms to give to subs and other team members.
  • Guidance documents on arcane LEED issues.
  • Sample templates to help guide your narratives and LEED Online submissions.
  • Examples of actual submissions from certified LEED projects.

LEEDuser expert

Marcus Sheffer

7group / Energy Opportunities
LEED Fellow

See all LEEDuser forum discussions about this credit » Subscribe to new discussions about Schools-2009 EAc1