LEED-EBOM: Eight Steps to Success

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Key Practices for Your Existing Buildings Certification

LEEDuser logoClick here for a free subscription to our email newsletter, including LEED tips and info on future webinars.Getting started on a LEED for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance (LEED-EBOMEBOM is an acronym for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance, one of the LEED 2009 rating sytems.) certification project? If you want to start off on the right foot, or pick things up if they haven't gone so well, watch this LEEDuser webinar recording for essential tips and best practices.

LEED-EBOM without a coronary

A high LEED certification score, a hassle-free process with minimal additional staff time, good return on investment, and real results in terms of energy savings and benefits to occupants—these are good goals for any LEED-EBOM project, but how do you make them happen?

Eight Steps to LEED-EBOM Success

Jenny Carney, one of the country's foremost LEED-EBOM experts, shares her "eight steps to success" in this hour-long webinar:

  • Make strategic use of Performance Periods, and don't dilly dally
  • Get your multi-tenant ducks in a row
  • Benchmark your energy performance early, often, and accurately
  • And more.

Jenny shares her steps with specific to-do's, case studies, and tips you can use to win over other members of your project team.

About the presenters

Jenny Carney, LEED AP
Jenny heads up YRG's Business & Operations Team, based in YRG's Chicago office. She oversees YRG project work related to LEED for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance (LEED-EB:O&M) certification, corporate sustainability programming and reporting, and sustainability strategy development for businesses and existing buildings. She sits on the USGBC-Chicago Chapter's Education & Research committee, and is a member of the USGBC's Sustainable Sites TAGLEED Technical Advisory Group (TAG): Subcommittees that consist of industry experts who assist in developing credit interpretations and technical improvements to the LEED system.  (Technical Advisory Group).

Tristan Roberts, LEED AP
The webinar will be moderated by Tristan Roberts, editor of LEEDuser.com, a website that provides how-to resources for LEED certification teams. Tristan is also editor-at-large for BuildingGreen, publishers of LEEDuser as well as Environmental Building News and GreenSpec.

Continuing education

Please note: continuing education hours were offered for the live version of this event. Due to USGBC and AIA requirements, they are currently offered for this recorded version only to members of our sister website, BuildingGreen.com. Visit this page to take the quiz and earn 1 CE hour for AIA and LEED.

28 Comments

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Lance Collins Partner Greenside LLC
Apr 06 2011
Member
64 Thumbs Up

LEED-EBOM for multifamily residential

(1) Are there any case studies on a multi-family residential project that achieved certification in the LEED-EBOMEBOM is an acronym for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance, one of the LEED 2009 rating sytems. system?

(2) Do all of the individual tenant units have to be included in the certification? How should you handle necessary improvements (i.e water reduction, air filters, etc)? Do you have to retrofit each apartment, only a sampling, or have a phasing plan for implementation? Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

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Dan Ackerstein Principal, Ackerstein Sustainability, LLC Apr 07 2011 Guest Expert 2854 Thumbs Up

Lance - I was (tangentially) involved on an interesting multi-family residential project that I think you would find interesting. There's a brief case study here: http://www.greenbuildingpro.com/articles/case-studies/1777-fillmore-cent...

To your second question, I'm fairly confident that the answer will be yes - individual tenant units would be included in just about everything. There are some flexibilities around purchasing, but the hardware/systems type elements you note are almost certain to be required in every apartment, top to bottom. Sampling or phasing or partial implementation is rarely feasible in EBOMEBOM is an acronym for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance, one of the LEED 2009 rating sytems., with a few exceptions.

Dan

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Michael Miller Sustainability Resources Group, SERA Architects May 02 2011 Member 525 Thumbs Up

Lance, if you're still following this question: We have been looking into EBOMEBOM is an acronym for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance, one of the LEED 2009 rating sytems. for a multi-family residence. The project may or may not happen, in part due to the unique challenges of MFR properties under EBOM -- particularly for a property that was not originally built to high green standards.
Regarding your second question, as Dan notes, there are apparently some flexibilities around the MR purchasing credits. There are a couple of inquiries in USGBC's Interpretations database which confirm that in dorms and MFRs, the purchasing credits are possible based on (1.) building purchases and (2.) providing educational guidance to residents on how they can make their own purchasing decisions with sustainability in mind. See inquiries #5133 and #5134.
There are few case studies available because there are so few EB certified multi-family projects. A month ago, I downloaded the USGBC's current spreadsheet of certified/registered projects and filtered the data for EBOM projects (all versions) that said they included "multi-unit residence" in their project type(s). Only 65 or 70 "multi-unit residence" projects have ever been registered for any version of LEED EB; only five have been certified, at least two of which were university housing (one of the five is confidential). The university housing may not have faced some of the typical challenges faced by multi-family residences (e.g. distributed HVAC and DHWDomestic hot water (DHW) is water used for food preparation, cleaning and sanitation and personal hygiene, but not heating. systems; individual utility billing, etc.), so there are only two, possibly three, true multi-family projects that have ever been certified. Both of those appear from their websites to be mid- to high-end properties that were constructed relatively recently as high-level NC certified projects. Only one of those is certified under EBOM 2009. (Of course this filtering may have missed some projects, but it still serves to illustrate how few MFR EB projects there actually are.)

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Simon .S
Dec 08 2010
Member
1540 Thumbs Up

LEED EBOM for Healthcare Facilities

Can an existing hospital apply for LEED EBOMEBOM is an acronym for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance, one of the LEED 2009 rating sytems. certification?

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Tristan Roberts Editorial Director – LEEDuser, BuildingGreen, Inc. Dec 09 2010 Moderator

Yes, certainly. It's likely that due to the nature of the facility and its needs there are some credits that present problems or unique circumstances in achieving, so I would plan on having to work through some issues, but there's nothing preventing their eligibility.

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Simon .S Dec 09 2010 Member 1540 Thumbs Up

Tristan, Thank you. But does the hospital need to have policies as indicated in Green Guides for Healthcare? Do you know how many hospitals received LEED-EBOMEBOM is an acronym for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance, one of the LEED 2009 rating sytems. certification?

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Tristan Roberts Editorial Director – LEEDuser, BuildingGreen, Inc. Dec 09 2010 Moderator

I don't know, but perhaps you could search for some information on USGBC.org. Let us know what you learn.

I'm not sure I understand your question about GGHC. Can you clarify?

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Karen Stewart President, LEED AP EcoPotential
Aug 03 2010
Guest
209 Thumbs Up

Documented benefits as a result of LEED for Existing Buildings

I am looking for data that shows the benefits (triple bottom line) for buildings that have achieved the LEED for Existing Buildings certification. I've heard that the owner can expect a 30 to 50% return on investment and that a LEED EBOMEBOM is an acronym for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance, one of the LEED 2009 rating sytems. Certified or Silver has a 2 to 3 year payback.
Most of the cost/benefit data that I have found is for new construction. I know I can look at individual case studies, but wanted to see if there were any consolidated results. Does anyone have any suggestions?

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mike w lackey, pe principal, lackey de carvajal cx Aug 04 2010 Member 50 Thumbs Up

You raise a good question, the results you quote sound aggressive but are not necessarily out of line with published commissioning data. I would like to see this data for LEED EBOMEBOM is an acronym for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance, one of the LEED 2009 rating sytems. certification as well.

Evan Mills's work "Building Commissioning, A Golden Opportunity for Reducing Energy Costs and Greenhouse Gas Emissions" publishes data that show averages for commissioning existing buildings typically show energy saving of 10-15%, average commissioning costs of $0.46 and payback of 1.8 months. All of which are for commissioning, not necessarily LEED certification.

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Dan Ackerstein Principal, Ackerstein Sustainability, LLC Aug 05 2010 Guest Expert 2854 Thumbs Up

Karen - I dare say that if you find any reliable data like this, you instantly become a hero to the EBOMEBOM is an acronym for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance, one of the LEED 2009 rating sytems. community. Having wrestled with this very issue since the beginning of EB, often in collaboration with the USGBC itself, I'm keenly aware of the difficulty in creating a useful analysis as it relates to existing buildings.

The two problems are this: 1. Different starting points. Some buildings enter the EB process in fantastic condition and use the rating system as a verification tool. Others enter in terrible shape and use the system as a road map to improving operations. As you can imagine, these two buildings would have radically different costs and benefits associated, to a degree that they become apples and oranges. When one building achieves certification for $50k, and another for $2 million, its a tough data set to manage.

2. Cost assignment. Drawing lines around an EB project is extremely difficult. If a building replaces a chiller as part of their EB project, how should that cost be assigned to EB? The entire cost of the chiller? The marginal cost relative to a less efficient replacement chiller? What if they were planning to replace the chiller regardless of EB? There are ways to answer all these questions, but getting survey respondents to answer them consistently is extremely difficult.

All that being said, USGBC/GBCI is collecting some interesting data via the 'Documenting Sustainable Building Operations Cost Impacts' credit in the IO section and perhaps they will soon make magic from those numbers.

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Karen Stewart President, LEED AP, EcoPotential Aug 06 2010 Guest 209 Thumbs Up

Dan, thanks for your insight. I agree. It will be difficult. But, it is extremely important that we all understand the documented benefits of LEED EBOMEBOM is an acronym for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance, one of the LEED 2009 rating sytems.. We have over 70 billion sf of commercial building space existing today. Much of which could improve financially, environmentally and socially by following the LEED EBOM certification process. Building owners need this data to make informed decisions. I had thought about the IO credit and wondered how much data USGBC had received on completed projects. A colleague and I are "mining" some data on several completed existing building projects. I'll let you know what we find.

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Yun Day Firm Administrator, Shlemmer+Algaze+Associates Sep 29 2010 Member 205 Thumbs Up

Do you have any idea to date how many LEED EBOMEBOM is an acronym for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance, one of the LEED 2009 rating sytems. building there are in the US? Is there a place I can see a list? I am making a case for it and that info would be helpful.

Thanks!

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David Posada Sustainability Manager, GBD Architects Sep 29 2010 Guest Expert 4067 Thumbs Up

Re: Number of EB buildings in the US: as of August 2010 there were about 3300 projects registered to pursue LEED EB in the US, and about 675 buildings that had received certification in the US.

The simplest way to look for this kind of information is at
http://www.usgbc.org/LEED/Project/CertifiedProjectList.aspx?CMSPageID=247

The USGBC has also periodically provided a spreadsheet of projects that can be sorted or filtered - try requesting one from the customer service email at the USGBC site.

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John Ida President Urban Works, Inc.
Jun 07 2010
Member
276 Thumbs Up

Performance Period - end dates

On p. xx in the GBOM Ref Guide, the asterisk in Table 1:Sample Performance Period declares "All performance periods must end within the same 7-day interval". However, Jenny stated that this has been changed to one month instead of one week. Could someone post a link to the document that states this change? Is it in a document addenda from USGBC or GBCI?

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Tristan Roberts Editorial Director – LEEDuser, BuildingGreen, Inc. Jun 07 2010 Moderator

Yes, see the LEED addenda from USGBC issued on 12/2/2009. You can find the document on this page, or download it directly here. Look on page 2.

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Denise Thompson King County Jun 09 2010 Member 68 Thumbs Up

I have found the following information on the overlaps of performance periods from the different versions of LEED for Existing Buildings:

EB v2: all performance periods must end within a shared sixty-day window…
EBOMEBOM is an acronym for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance, one of the LEED 2009 rating sytems.: all performance periods must overlap and terminate within one week of each other...
EBOM v3: all performance periods must overlap and terminate within 30 calendar days of each other…

Have I missed an update to LEED-EBOM to extend the overlap?

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Tristan Roberts Editorial Director – LEEDuser, BuildingGreen, Inc. Jun 10 2010 Moderator

That matches up with my understanding of the current overlaps.

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Denise Thompson King County Jun 10 2010 Member 68 Thumbs Up

Thanks for the response. If it wasn't so late in the game, I would change to EBOMEBOM is an acronym for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance, one of the LEED 2009 rating sytems. v3. I just hope we can pull off the one week overlap -- it's going to be tough.

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Denise Thompson King County Jul 13 2010 Member 68 Thumbs Up

I just received an email from the USGBC stating they will be changing EBOMEBOM is an acronym for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance, one of the LEED 2009 rating sytems. 2008 to a 30 day window as well.

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John Albrecht Senior Sustainability Specialist, NELSON Feb 12 2011 Member 723 Thumbs Up

The EBOMEBOM is an acronym for Existing Buildings: Operations & Maintenance, one of the LEED 2009 rating sytems. 2009 submittal needs to be made within 60 days from when the performance period concludes and the various performance periods have to end within 30 days of each other in EBOM 2009. If some credits do have different performance period end dates within the 30 day window, does the 60 day submittal period commence at the end of the last performance period end date? Thanks again LEEDuser. John

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Tristan Roberts Editorial Director – LEEDuser, BuildingGreen, Inc. Feb 24 2011 Moderator

John, I would assume so, but I don't know for sure. If it's critical to your project I would ask GBCI for clarification. Let us know what you find out.

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Jenny Carney Principal, YRG sustainability Mar 07 2011 Guest Expert 2468 Thumbs Up

John - definite yes to your scenario. If you have 1 of your credits ending on December 30, 2010 and all the rest on December 1, 2010, you have 60 days from the 30 to get your application in.

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Michelle Perez Jun 02 2011 Member 94 Thumbs Up

Could you clarify the 30 day window for ending of performance periods? The guide states a one-week overlap is permissible. Are they talking about two different things?
Thanks.

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Jenny Carney Principal, YRG sustainability Jun 08 2011 Guest Expert 2468 Thumbs Up

Michelle - check out Tristan's note above. The change from 7 to 30 days was made via an addenda, so that could be why you aren't seeing it in the Reference Guide.

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Carmelito Tatlonghari
May 25 2010
Member
114 Thumbs Up

Copy of the Presentation

Yes, a copy of the presentation would be very useful in explaining the process to my clients.

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suzy kelly Principal, LEEDAdvisors Aug 18 2010 Guest 59 Thumbs Up

are slides part of video...don't see as attachment?

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Tristan Roberts Editorial Director – LEEDuser, BuildingGreen, Inc. Aug 18 2010 Moderator

Suzy, see the attachment above, just before the comments begin.

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suzy kelly Principal, LEEDAdvisors Aug 18 2010 Guest 59 Thumbs Up

see it! Thanks.

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