Experience achieving this credit, EApc95?

The LEED calculator for this credit automatically will calculate the savings from regional grids using the energy star numbers.  I have not tried to go beyond that into that. Interesting thought, but I wonder if it would require info on commissioning similar to community PV or Central plant efficiencies.

Our project is located in British Columbia, which provides significant GHG savings due to the “clean energy” grid as you described. We are close to submitting, so haven’t found out yet if we will be accepted for this pilot credit, but I can say that the calculations and documentation process was quite simple and straightforward (unlike the heavy documentation burden for the typical energy credit submittal).

We have on a few jobs.   It is an easy pilot and great for the types of projects you identify.

We are pursuing this pilot credit for a multi-family high rise in New York State. The energy savings using the standard method versus an alternative was about an increase of 3%. Definitely worth at least completing the calculator to see if this pathway can help your project. Our energy modeler was able to complete the calculation for us quite quickly.

(Katie Cappola, 1000109371)

Also, we are pursuing this pilot credit for other project types like commercial interior, warehouse and new construction and the process has been very straight forward. The projects have not completed certification yet but we can report our findings when complete.

As mentioned earlier, it is extremely essential that project teams contribute their experiences with using pilot credits.  Both challenges and opportunities need to be shared so that we all can advance individual and collective knowledge. It is somewhat frustrating to have a forum available and not used to its fullest extent.  There are so many questions about this pilot credit and very little guidance from those actually using it in real LEED projects.

Hi Kath:

Point taken. 

We've been using this ACP on all of our projects that are trying to be all-electric. Unfortunately, given the relative prices of gas and electricity in our region, projects using heat pumps typically increase energy costs compared to gas heating, despite reducing GHG from heating by 50% or more. (This is in part because the costs of decarbonizing the grid are added to our electric rates only). LEED v4 is sending the wrong signal - penalizing projects  for making a good decision. This is why the ACP is so important, and why v4.1 changes the approach to energy metrics. 

Two notes for teams using the ACP.

The first is that your stated reason for using the ACP must be something other than "we get more points this way".  We generally highlight our clients goals to reduced GHG emissions as a reason for using a metric that more accurately reflects the environmental impacts.  

Here's a sample narrative we have used successfully:"The project is located in the New England region which is one of the cleanest grids in the country. Using heat pump heating sources overall reduces the carbon impact and improves the efficiency of the project. Where feasible the project has tried to maximize the use of heat pump heating. Therefore, the project is using this ACP for predicting energy efficiency savings."

Second, we have found that on several occassions the reviewers have approved our approach, but then miscalculated the number of points to be awarded. So check that.  

We have two projects that have implemented the ACP to take advantage of the relatively clean hydroelectric power, both projects are a part of a LEED campus project. We also chose to pursue this credit because there is a big push institutionally for tracking and benchmarking carbon emissions. These projects served as pilots for future projects within the campus. Once we have confirmed that we have achieved through the LEED review, we will review results and determine next steps for campus wide applications.

We are implementing the ACP for the first time to reflect the GHG emission reduction of a project using district cooling, steam and electricity located in Texas. We found the credit was easy to understand and document.