Black box or transparent benchmarking?

Great points, Nick! I wonder how many projects are going to be willing to take the plunge.

No kidding, Nick!  And now, with so many credits removed, there is no incentive for Owners to do anything to make improvements either (ie.. commissioning, daylight, IEQ basics, etc).

As Nick asked, "Is there any way we can estimate a building's performance before registering for the rating system?"

Vincent, I'm looking into it but going out on a limb and guessing the answer is no.

It's my opinion too Paula!  I read: "at this time, the energy performance score calculated is only based on GHG emissions. USGBC is in the process of updating the scoring to include source energy. In the meantime, projects are eligible to earn up to the full 33 points based GHG emissions score " I have several project in Quebec where electricity in 100% hydro so GHG are very low.. I am currently encouraging some of my clients to move forward with this version. Waiting their decision but I should be able to register the projects and see the performance soon..

Hi Nick, thanks for your comment. As a part of the LEED v4.1 Beta roll out, the Technical Solutions team at USGBC will be directly supporting every project team in the program.  With this effort we will ensure that every project a dedicated support point of contact who is committed to helping the project succeed.  Should you need assistance with any project, please reach out to us through the Contact Us page on the USGBC.org website.

We were told by GBCI that they could arrange for us to have an overview of our energy performance score of our existing building before actually committing to LEED v4.1. Also, we were told that projects registering under v4.1 have the option of rolling back to v4 if they find it too challenging. Not sure how long this provision will be allowed...

That is great info! Thanks, Shakir.

Great post!

I am doing some research on LEED v4.1 O+M and I have a number of questions.
I am going to post them here (I know it is a lot) hoping someone knows the answer for a few of them, maybe. Note: I will also post on specific credit foruns as well.   thanks!!     Water efficiency a)    What is the definition of potable water? Is this annual water consumption only linked to potable water? b)    How do we calculate the gross floor area without ARC? c)     How do we calculate Weighted occupancy ? could not find example calculation anywhere d)    How do we calculate Weighted operating hours? could not find example calculation anywhere e)    Where can I find the Table 2. Operating hours adjustment factor ? f)     How do we calculate the operating hours per week to find the adjustment factor? g)    Where can I find the calculation behind the Water performance score.     Energy efficiency a)    How do we calculate the gross floor area without ARC? b)    How do we calculate Weighted occupancy ? could not find example calculation anywhere c)     How do we calculate Weighted operating hours? could not find example calculation anywhere d)    How do we calculate outside temperature adjustment factor? could not find example calculation anywhere e)    Where can I find the Table 2. Operating hours adjustment factor ? f)     How do we calculate the operating hours per week to find the adjustment factor? g)    Where can I find the calculation behind the Source Energy Score, am I right to assume that this would be the same three equations from the GHG calculations without converting them to GHG?   IEQ efficiency a)    For the average CO295th value, are we averaging over what period? b)    The average CO295th value is calculated during occupied times only? c)     Can you provide example calculation? d)    Can you provide the table that generated the CO2 scoring function, so the score can be calculated outside the GBCI/ARC software? e)    What is the use of the  average TVOC value, are we averaging over what period? f)     Can you provide the TVOC scoring function, so the score can be calculated outside the GBCI/ARC software?