LEEDuser’s viewpoint
Explore this LEED credit
Post your questions on this credit in the forum, and click on the credit language tab to review to the LEED requirements.
Credit language
© Copyright U.S. Green Building Council, Inc. All rights reserved.
Intent
To improve the performance of the building by enabling energy efficient behavior in building occupants.
Pilot Credit Closed
This pilot credit was closed to new pilot credit registrations on 3/1/2015. It is now available in the LEED Innovation Catalog for ongoing use by project teams as an innovation point rather than a pilot credit.
Requirements
Establishment
Consumption feedback
Implement one or more modes of communication to inform occupants about the actual energy consumption of the building and/or their workspace. This may be done in real-time, or through regular reporting mechanisms, but must be communicated at least on a monthly basis. Occupants must be given information with a relevant comparison point; the comparison point(s) may either be comparable buildings or spaces, or historical energy consumption data for the same space (at least 1 years worth of data, or predicted usage if 1 years data is not yet available).Occupant empowerment
Implement and maintain an occupant engagement program that involves communicating with, enabling and empowering building occupants to help meet the sustainability goals for the building. The occupant engagement initiative(s) must include the following minimum requirements:- Education – provide accurate, up-to-date, and catered information to building occupants about what their largest impacts are on the energy use of the building and where the largest areas for potential savings exist. This may be achieved through a one-time event like a competition or awareness week or month, but also must include some permanent educational components, which must be updated to account for any seasonal variations in energy consumption and building performance.
- Enabling – occupants must be made aware of specific actions they can take to improve the performance of the building, not just the impacts they have on resource use in their building
- Feedback to management – occupants must be provided a clear avenue for reporting building-related energy or water inefficiencies to building management
Performance
Track and document the results of the occupant engagement initiative(s) against the established performance goals and identify areas for improvement. These results must be recorded on a regular basis and summarized for the performance period.General Pilot Documentation Requirements
Register for the pilot credit- Participate in the LEEDuser pilot credit forum
- Complete the feedback survey:
Credit specific
- Provide a summary of occupant engagement program that includes, at a minimum
- Performance goals for the program and how they relate to the overall sustainability goals for the building
- Communication mechanism(s) used for consumption feedback and the data/information presented to occupants about the actual energy consumption of the building and/or their space
- Specific energy-saving actions occupants were encouraged to take
- If available, submit any metrics and/or quantitative data used to measure the success of the occupant engagement program (e.g., energy consumption data, records of complaint/report logs, event participation records, etc.)
Additional questions
- Were you able to understand and comply with the credit language as written
- In four sentences or less, why did the project choose to pursue this pilot credit?
- Were the barriers to implementing the strategies used under this credit
- Prior to the implementation of the occupant engagement program, in your own judgement, how would you have defined the level of knowledge the occupants had about energy efficient practices (e.g., environmentally savvy, clueless, not sure)?
- Did you notice any change(s) in occupant behavior in relation to energy efficient practices during and/or after the implementation of the occupant engagement program?
- Were there aspects of the occupant engagement program that you thought about implementing but then decided not to?
- What are your plans for maintaining the occupant engagement program after the conclusion of the performance period?
- Did this program have support from upper-level management?
What does it cost?
Cost estimates for this credit
On each BD+C v4 credit, LEEDuser offers the wisdom of a team of architects, engineers, cost estimators, and LEED experts with hundreds of LEED projects between then. They analyzed the sustainable design strategies associated with each LEED credit, but also to assign actual costs to those strategies.
Our tab contains overall cost guidance, notes on what “soft costs” to expect, and a strategy-by-strategy breakdown of what to consider and what it might cost, in percentage premiums, actual costs, or both.
This information is also available in a full PDF download in The Cost of LEED v4 report.
Learn more about The Cost of LEED v4 »Frequently asked questions
See all forum discussions about this credit »Documentation toolkit
The motherlode of cheat sheets
LEEDuser’s Documentation Toolkit is loaded with calculators to help assess credit compliance, tracking spreadsheets for materials, sample templates to help guide your narratives and LEED Online submissions, and examples of actual submissions from certified LEED projects for you to check your work against. To get your plaque, start with the right toolkit.
© Copyright U.S. Green Building Council, Inc. All rights reserved.
Intent
To improve the performance of the building by enabling energy efficient behavior in building occupants.
Pilot Credit Closed
This pilot credit was closed to new pilot credit registrations on 3/1/2015. It is now available in the LEED Innovation Catalog for ongoing use by project teams as an innovation point rather than a pilot credit.
Requirements
Establishment
Consumption feedback
Implement one or more modes of communication to inform occupants about the actual energy consumption of the building and/or their workspace. This may be done in real-time, or through regular reporting mechanisms, but must be communicated at least on a monthly basis. Occupants must be given information with a relevant comparison point; the comparison point(s) may either be comparable buildings or spaces, or historical energy consumption data for the same space (at least 1 years worth of data, or predicted usage if 1 years data is not yet available).Occupant empowerment
Implement and maintain an occupant engagement program that involves communicating with, enabling and empowering building occupants to help meet the sustainability goals for the building. The occupant engagement initiative(s) must include the following minimum requirements:- Education – provide accurate, up-to-date, and catered information to building occupants about what their largest impacts are on the energy use of the building and where the largest areas for potential savings exist. This may be achieved through a one-time event like a competition or awareness week or month, but also must include some permanent educational components, which must be updated to account for any seasonal variations in energy consumption and building performance.
- Enabling – occupants must be made aware of specific actions they can take to improve the performance of the building, not just the impacts they have on resource use in their building
- Feedback to management – occupants must be provided a clear avenue for reporting building-related energy or water inefficiencies to building management
Performance
Track and document the results of the occupant engagement initiative(s) against the established performance goals and identify areas for improvement. These results must be recorded on a regular basis and summarized for the performance period.General Pilot Documentation Requirements
Register for the pilot credit- Participate in the LEEDuser pilot credit forum
- Complete the feedback survey:
Credit specific
- Provide a summary of occupant engagement program that includes, at a minimum
- Performance goals for the program and how they relate to the overall sustainability goals for the building
- Communication mechanism(s) used for consumption feedback and the data/information presented to occupants about the actual energy consumption of the building and/or their space
- Specific energy-saving actions occupants were encouraged to take
- If available, submit any metrics and/or quantitative data used to measure the success of the occupant engagement program (e.g., energy consumption data, records of complaint/report logs, event participation records, etc.)
Additional questions
- Were you able to understand and comply with the credit language as written
- In four sentences or less, why did the project choose to pursue this pilot credit?
- Were the barriers to implementing the strategies used under this credit
- Prior to the implementation of the occupant engagement program, in your own judgement, how would you have defined the level of knowledge the occupants had about energy efficient practices (e.g., environmentally savvy, clueless, not sure)?
- Did you notice any change(s) in occupant behavior in relation to energy efficient practices during and/or after the implementation of the occupant engagement program?
- Were there aspects of the occupant engagement program that you thought about implementing but then decided not to?
- What are your plans for maintaining the occupant engagement program after the conclusion of the performance period?
- Did this program have support from upper-level management?
