While reading the definition in the District or Campus Guidance on what is a DES, it is not clear as whether one can consider each energy source an isolated DES or all the energy sources aggregate as one for a individual building. This affects enhanced commissioning when considering the 20% threshold. If one breaks every energy source as an independent DES, then one can exclude upstream equipment from having to be commissioned. My understanding is that the DES must be aggregate, but the definition is open for this interpretation. Any guidance on this issue will be valuable.
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Scott Bowman
LEED FellowIntegrated Design + Energy Advisors, LLC
LEEDuser Expert
519 thumbs up
June 8, 2017 - 4:33 pm
I do not have any specific experience in this kind of interpretation. However, GBCI tends to look at the intent of the credit or requirement and does not treat language as a contract or legal document. In my opinion, all systems in a DES that supply a given building some form of energy should be considered the DES. Another reason for my opinion is the intent that if you are going to claim energy savings because of the DES, then there needs to be confirmation of that performance with commissioning. The 20% rule is to avoid complications with small systems. Ok, one more comment...why would anyone want to be connected to a DES that is not commissioned on a regular basis?