Forum discussion
NC-2009 EAp2: Minimum Energy Performance
For a project that is less than 150,000 ft2 and has 6 floors of which 1 (the basement) is unconditioned would System 6 still be eligible for the project and not System 8? In other words, with regard to the amount of floors (at system selection) do only conditioned floors play a role? Thank you in advance.
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Marcus Sheffer
LEED Fellow7group / Energy Opportunities
LEEDuser Expert
5912 thumbs up
June 28, 2016 - 9:47 am
Yes only conditioned floors count. If a floor has any conditioned space (even if it is mostly unconditioned) then it counts as a floor.
Charalampos Giannikopoulos
Senior Sustainability ConsultantDCarbon
84 thumbs up
June 28, 2016 - 10:05 am
Thank you Marcus. However we are experiencing the following situation after a review: The building area is approximately 115,000 ft2, which is between 25,000 ft2 and 150,000 ft2 and has 5 conditioned floors + 1 basement. It is noted that the basement of the building is unconditioned and not conditioned as perceived by the reviewer who requested to use System 8 instead of System 6 already used.
However, the basement was set as “conditioned” in the modeling software eQuest because the software cannot simulate a building with an unconditioned floor without an assigned HVAC system. To this, and although the floor was set as “conditioned”, whereas it is not, no thermostat schedules were set neither for cooling nor for heating so that no corresponding loads were to be calculated.
Alternatively, we could set the basement as “unconditioned” and assign it to one of the above-grade floors HVAC systems in an effort to avoid the “error” message when attempting eQuest simulation. Do you have any idea of the approach we should make (before proceeding with the review response) since we think that the reviewer might have misinterpreted our project conditions?
Marcus Sheffer
LEED Fellow7group / Energy Opportunities
LEEDuser Expert
5912 thumbs up
June 29, 2016 - 11:44 am
The alternative is what you should do in the model. Just create the basement as a zone on a system that is unconditioned.
As far as the reviewer response I would send a project team inquiry to the reviewer explaining the situation and ask for further guidance before having to make such a big change to the baseline model. You can send this inquiry here - http://www.usgbc.org/contactus