Best Practices

The industry standard for M&V plans, both in the U.S. and internationally, is the International Performance Measurement and Verification Protocol (IPMVP), owned by the nonprofit Efficiency Valuation Organization.

Through a narrative report, the M&V program provider demonstrates that the M&V program will verify actual energy use. For energy systems not addressed in the M&V plan, you’ll need to provide a detailed reason for its exclusion in the narrative. 

Your plan should establish who is responsible for managing the process during operations and how long the monitoring will continue. 

The owner’s goals and IPMVP guidelines should drive the M&V plan, which should specify the systems to be submetered, those to be spot-metered, and how this will be accomplished.

Coordinate with your mechanical and electrical engineers to verify that the control devices will be able to provide the information needed for credit compliance.

If applicable, the BMS should be set up to collect data that allows fair comparison between actual and predicted energy use. For example, since weather patterns are factored into the energy model, the BMS should capture these along with other parameters, such as operating schedule, occupancy

Submetering different use areas in mixed-use buildings, such as office and laboratory spaces, can offer insight into what energy reduction measures are most appropriate for each space type. 

Isolating and metering different ECMs, such as HVAC systems or lighting, can provide useful information on energy consumption and provide insights about energy reduction measures.

Only electricity is required to be submetered in Core-and-Shell projects. Electricity for lighting, plug loads, and HVAC can be metered together, but this may not always be possible due to system constraints, unknown lighting or plug loads, or your project scope. Consider monitoring gas as well; this will give you a better idea of your building’s total energy use.

The M&V program must monitor the energy use of all systems installed during Core-and-Shell work and provide the infrastructure for tenant metering, though it does not need to individually measure tenant spaces.