Rating System

LEED BD+C: New Construction

Rating System Version

v2 - LEED 2.0

Inquiry

Our project is a golf clubhouse with a kitchen. When we did the energy modeling, we included kitchen loads--refrigerator plug loads, dishwasher loads, icemaker, etc. in both the baseline and the design building. Now, based on some credit interpretations we\'ve seen on the LEED site, we\'re realizing that perhaps we should not have included any of what seem to be "process" loads in the models. This would increase our energy efficiency results significantly. This issue also bears on the water reduction credit. We can achieve a 20% reduction by adding lower flow showerheads and toilets if we don\'t include kitchen uses like sinks, ice makers, dishwashers. These too have been called "process loads" in previous credit interpretations. (Rightfully so--we don\'t want to make less ice in a restaurant, or fill a sink less quickly...) Our question is: can we exclude kitchen energy and water uses from building modeling: we would still included loads from stove hoods, for example, since that is part of the HVAC system, but we would exclude energy and water use from dishwashers, refrigerators, ice machines, disposals.