All - looking for clarification to this para from the v4 BD+C Reference Manual (page 401):
"New DES: if the DES is new......show that commissioning or recommissioining of all relevant DES equipment has taken place within three years of the date of the project building's substantial completion.
A DES that is three years old or less at the date of the project buildings's substantial completion is considered "new" construction and should be commissioned in accordance with the requirements of EA Credit Enhanced Commissioning."
For our project, the DES will be constructed first, and is not pursuing LEED certification. By the time the DES is commissioned - probably at the same time as when we embark on Enhanced commissioning of our LEED project, we would have missed the window for "the CxA to be engaged before the design development phase [for the DES] is complete."
Help...
Scott Bowman
LEED FellowIntegrated Design + Energy Advisors, LLC
LEEDuser Expert
520 thumbs up
February 24, 2018 - 7:01 pm
Sorry for such a late response. There are so many different situations with projects that sometimes we need to get back to the core or reasoning behind a credit. In this case, the overall goal is that if you are claiming energy savings from a DES, then the DES should meet the same or similar requirements of the base building. They provided some guidance related to special conditions for existing plants. Note that I do not work or speak for GBCI, but am trying to give you guidance on how you might proceed and the foundation you should build for your reasoning.
In general, a DES should be commissioned on a regular basis...it makes sense that a central plant that is so vital to energy distribution to multiple buildings needs to be operating at peak efficiency. So I would proceed with a separate Enhanced Cx process for the DES now. This then builds a foundation for the building project. They do not have to be the same CxA at all so can proceed on separate schedules with appropriate expertise as required.