I am working on an international facility that is pursuing LEED-EB. We initially kicked-off the commissioning process in November of 2011 with reports delivered by the Retro-Commissioning Agent in February of 2012. The findings of the commissioning report and related benchmarking were that the facility was performing very inefficiently; we were performing 30% below similar office buildings in the region and LEED requires a facility to operate 19% below the benchmark as a minimum, thus we had a 50% gap to make-up. The prerequisite was not met and we had a long way to go. The infrastructure of the facility appears to have been neglected for quite a long time, and thus the findings were enlightening. We have been working to implement major energy savings measures and investing in the facility infrastructure to correct the issues; we have improved by +/- 20% to date. However, as these are large-scale improvements with substantial financial cost, the timeline is looking as though it will exceed the 24 months from when we kicked-off commissioning. We do not anticipate being ready to submit until spring of next year based on the installation of a new building automation system, replacement of chillers and a few other major projects that require time and capital. By that time, our time clock will have been running from November 2011 until April or so in 2014, resulting in 30+ months. The LEED Reference Guide states the Performance Period cannot exceed 24 months. Will the Owner have to re-commission the facility and start all over, which would be very expensive, or has anyone had the experience of working with the GBCI to extend a Performance Period timeline, so all of our hard work is not lost? If we can meet the prerequisite by next spring, that is a pretty great achievement to reduce a building's energy by 50% in 30 months. I would hate to see the Owner penalized for taking the time to invest properly in their facility. Please advise if you have encountered a similar scenario or can offer any advice. Thank you!
You rely on LEEDuser. Can we rely on you?
LEEDuser is supported by our premium members, not by advertisers.
Go premium for
Katherine Carlin
4 thumbs up
May 28, 2013 - 1:02 am
Hi Lucy, I've been reading up on performance periods for LEED-EBOM here: http://www.leeduser.com/topic/performance-period. The short of it is that you can toll the EAp2 performance period at your discretion so long as it is 12 continuous months AND all of your other performance periods end within a thirty day window of the end of the EAp2 period. I am new to this as well, so please don't take my word for it. Instead refer to that link I posted for you above; it should clear this up for you.
Ilona Johnson, PE, CEM, LEED AP
AssociateLilker EMO Energy Solutions
8 thumbs up
May 9, 2014 - 8:31 pm
Lucy,
Have you considered the pilot alternative compliance path? Buildings with poor energy performance can earn the prerequisite by reducing their energy consumption 20%. Refer to: http://www.leeduser.com/credit/EBOM-2009/EApc67