Rating System

LEED BD+C: Core and Shell

Rating System Version

v2 - LEED 2.0

Inquiry

We are working on roughly 2 million SF of retail and office space spread over 30 buildings. This development is pursuing LEED CS in Las Vegas, NV. The project team is seeking information on modeling methodology for multiple buildings being certified under one submittal for Energy and Atmosphere Credit 1, Option 1. The LEED Application Guide for Multiple Buildings and On-Campus Building Projects states the following for EAc1: "To receive a single rating for a group of buildings, use a weighted average for the group of buildings based on their conditioned square footage, or aggregate the data into one PRM calculation, so that the performance in achieved by buildings of varying sizes within a certifying group." We are wondering if creating representative models for buildings with similar characteristics would be an acceptable approach. Each representative model would demonstrate the savings that we could anticipate for buildings with the same characteristics. A weighted average would then be taken of the results and the overall energy cost savings for the development would be calculated. We would carefully determine the number of representative models in order to truly make an accurate portrayal of each building on site. The number of representative models would be dependent on the similarities in building layout, size, construction, use, orientation, adjacencies, HVAC, lighting, and operation. For instance, one representative model would demonstrate the energy cost for all buildings on site with the same construction, use, orientation, adjacency, HVAC, lighting and operation. The baseline cases would adhere to ASHRAE Standard 90.1-2004, as per LEED requirements. Please let us know if the proposed representative modeling methodology is acceptable.