What level of detail is required for energy calcs in regards to utility rates? For example, most utility energy charges are now fluctuating daily for both gas and electric. Some rates, depending on the service size are fluctuating Hourly!
We are using EnergyPro 5.0 and I tried to build an hourly rate schedule based on average daily rates and it exceeded the capacity of the program.
Other clients want us to use an average rate that even includes demand.
Is there a minimum standard for building a rate schedule for LEED?
Clark Denson
Building Performance EngineerSSRCx
5 thumbs up
March 2, 2010 - 12:10 pm
ASHRAE 90.1 section G2.4 allows you to use either the actual utility rate structure or state average energy rates as published by the DOE's Energy Information Administration. Either method is acceptable for LEED purposes. If the actual rate structure is too complex for your energy modeling program to simulate, you can use state averages.
If you feel that using the actual rate structure will be an advantage to your energy model, you might be able to export hourly energy demand and consumption data, post-process it in a spreadsheet program using historical or anticipated daily or hourly rates, and submit it to USGBC as an Exceptional Calculation Measure. As with all ECMs, there's no guarantee that they will accept this approach. That being said, I haven't used EnergyPro that much, so I'm not sure of its data-exporting capabilities.
Good Luck!