Hi,
I have a slight question regarding the start date for tracking the EA performance period.
The project that my team is working on is aiming to apply for the LEED 2009 EB: O&M certification. It is a 275,000 sq.m. retail mall that is currently in operation. Slight renovations have been planned for the current M&E systems, and there will be a newly constructed extension to the building which is approximately 19% of the building’s existing square footage. And the existing building has been operated, and has energy records for over 10 years.
My question is about the start date for tracking performance period of the 12 months for the EA credits. Is it required that we have to wait until the new extension has been fully constructed to begin tracking the energy performance period, or we can start once renovations of the existing building (which is the main building) have been completed?
Provided we have performance tracking has to be done after construction of the new extension is completed, in any case can we start tracking the performance period prior to construction completion? For example, can we make use of the energy records of the existing building (the main building) as a reference?
Thank you. Any comments or suggestions will be very much appreciated.
Ben Stanley
Senior Sustainability ManagerWSP - Built Ecology
LEEDuser Expert
250 thumbs up
February 10, 2014 - 10:50 am
Hi Alizara,
If you're going to include the addition in the certification application, you would have to wait until that addition was completed and operating like normal prior to beginning the 12 month performance period for EAp2. Otherwise, your energy use would be artificially low if accounting for the addition floor area but not its energy usage.
You might take a look at the Minimum Program Requirement guidance to see if there is a possibility to exclude the addition from the application. In that case you might be able to start the performance period earlier.