Hi everyone,
We are working on a Residential New Construction Project, compound of more than 100 apartments, pursuing Option D - Calibrated Simulation. All apartments will have their own utility electric meter, and the associated bills will be paid directly by the tenants.
Energy consumption related with the common areas and shared equipment will be metered separately using electric sub-meters for HVAC, Lighting and Process Loads...
In order to expand the submetering inside the apartments we are evaluating to use the Lighting Central Management System monitor the lighting consumption of each apartment. This system could be extended to include monitoring of the HVAC equipment, so you could know the running time of the equipment and estimate the energy use. This option represents an indirect measurement of the energy end-uses of each apartment.
Since IPMVP only mentions main meters and sub-meters in the Calibrated Simulation option, is the indirect measurement proposed valid to comply the requirements of the protocol?
Any clarifications would be helpful in order to establish an option for sub-measurement inside the apartments.
Thanks,
Marcus Sheffer
LEED Fellow7group / Energy Opportunities
LEEDuser Expert
5867 thumbs up
December 10, 2014 - 11:02 am
Measuring a parameter that enables you to calculate or derive energy use by end use is perfectly acceptable.
Multifamily residential is significantly more difficult that many other building types to effectively implement Option D. Make sure you cover all the significant energy end uses like domestic hot water, fans, pumps, etc. Another possibility would be to base the calibration on a sampling of units and extrapolate. This increases the margin of error but I think could work with a good sampling technique.
Marcus Sheffer
LEED Fellow7group / Energy Opportunities
LEEDuser Expert
5867 thumbs up
February 9, 2018 - 1:37 pm
As I recall this was proposed within a LEED Interpretation. I don't recall which one.
The sampling could vary depending on the nature of the differences in the residential units within the building. The sampling should probably address the units facing different orientations, units of of different sizes, on different floors, of different configuration, etc. There could be many criteria upon which to base the sampling. It should produce a representative sampling that addresses the variables within the project. There is probably not a specific sampling protocol which would apply to every residential building. I would say the sampling should cover at least 10% of each of the units that have differentiating variables that would have a significant impact on energy use. You will need to figure out what will give you a reasonable sample for your project and justify it to the reviewer.
As I said this is hard to do for multi-family residential which is why it is rarely attempted on this building type.