Rating System

LEED BD+C: New Construction, LEED BD+C: Core and Shell, LEED BD+C: Schools

Rating System Version

v3 - LEED 2009, v2 - Schools 2007, v2 - LEED 2.2, v2 - LEED 2.0

Inquiry

Our LEED project consists of two office buildings of approximately 160,000 sf each plus a central refrigeration plant and parking deck. All buildings will be submitted as one LEED project. The project is currently under construction. The energy model for the project was constructed using Trace700 and is a comprehensive model of all three structures. In addition to the 20% energy savings already being reflected in the model, substantial energy savings will be realized by the investments the Owner has made in advanced energy efficiency measures such as daylighting through a central atrium and interior glazing, raised floor thermodynamics and a hybrid HVAC system. Due to limitations of the Trace700 modeling software, the contributions of these sophisticated energy efficiency measures are not currently reflected in the modeled energy savings. To support the ongoing operations of the building, the Owner has invested in a measurement and verification system, which per EA Credit 5, will include measurement of all electrical power panels, lighting panels broken into interior and exterior lighting, and all hvac equipment. The M&V system will measure and trend demand and consumption of electricity, water and natural gas on an hourly basis for all hours of the year. The project cannot bear the added expense that would be required to perform extensive hand calculations, daylight models or to use more sophisticated energy modeling software, but we would like the Owner to be recognized with LEED points for the contribution that their investment in energy efficient design strategies represents. We would like to incorporate the actual measured performance of the lighting, power, and HVAC systems into the Trace700 model. We propose to delay our LEED application at the end of construction and with all buildings in operation, to measure the building systems performance for 3 to 6 months through the M&V devices. We would then substitute values from the measured performance into the design case energy model. The data would be input on a watt/sqft, kw/cfm, btu/hr, cfh, or gal/min basis. We believe that using measured performance data in the creation of the final design case model would be a cost-effective, accurate means of accounting for the contributions of sophisticated energy efficiency measures, and request permission to use this approach on our project.