My question is in regard to both EAc3: Enhanced Commissioning and EAc5: Measurement and Verification credits in relation to a District Energy System. We are working on a project based in China where the District Energy System is not owned or controlled by the owner but rather by the government. Due to the strict and undisclosed nature of the government in China, obtaining information and specific numbers on the energy performance and maintenance of the DES equipment will be difficult, making the Enhanced Commissioning and Measurement and Verification of all District Energy System equipment unfeasible. The USGBC guidance entitled “Treatment of District or Campus Thermal Energy in LEED V2 and LEED 2009-Design & Construction” provide compliance paths on page 8, section 2.3.2 for EAc3: Enhanced Commissioning and on page 17, section 2.7 for EAc5 Measurement and Verification. However, the guidelines and interpretations it provides appear to apply only to owner-operated DES systems and does not seem to include an approach for utility and/or government-operated DES systems. For our project, can we assume all upstream equipment included in the District Energy System be excluded in the scope of both EAc3 and EAc5? Thanks so much!
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Susann Geithner
PrincipalEmerald Built Environments
1297 thumbs up
June 14, 2011 - 5:58 pm
You will have to include the upstream equipment also for a District Energy system owned by a utility company or the government. We just submitted a project for design review and had this particular issue for EAc3. We actually talked this through with the GBCI to clarify the requirements and documentation. The only exception would be to have less than 20% of the buildings energy supplied by the DES. This is also noted in the DES guideline. Otherwise there is always an alternative compliance approach, which probably should be clarified with an CIR.
Alvaro Reyes
April 25, 2014 - 1:15 pm
Susann, can you provide a few details in terms of what your submittal included, just so that I can get an idea of what is involved? Did the DES provide Cx documentation in line with EAc3 or RCx documentation in line with EBOM EAc2.2/2.3?
Simon Sue
SL+A INTERNATIONAL ASIA INC.411 thumbs up
April 1, 2016 - 2:31 am
Is any further guidance on this issue available? What was the final result? (Some time has passed, I assume this project is completed by now)