Hi,
anyone got any experience with the Alternative Compliance Path WEpc94 – No Cooling Tower? http://www.usgbc.org/node/5586086?return=/pilotcredits/all/v4
(This pilot credit is an alternative compliance path to the LEED v4 credit Cooling tower water use for the maximum number of points under each credit)
The requirement:
Projects may earn full credit if all conditions are met:
• the baseline system designated for the building using ASHRAE 90.1-2010 Appendix G Table G3.1.1 includes a cooling tower (systems 7 & 8)
• the project design case does not include a cooling tower
• the design case mechanical system does not use the latent heat of the evaporative cooling of water.
• the project does not receive any cooling from a District cooling system
Credit Specific Documentation
Provide documentation showing that the project meets all requirements including:
• Documentation showing that the project is designated as systems 7 or 8 under ASHRAE 90.1-2010 Appendix G Table G3.1.1
• Documentation (site plan or mechanical system plan, energy model or other) showing that the project design case does not include a cooling tower or other system that uses the latent heat of the evaporative cooling of water, and is not connected to a District cooling system..
Documentation should be uploaded under the Cooling Tower Water Use credit form in LEED Online.
We documented according to all of the requirements above but the inspection team still denied this credits with the following comment:
The LEED Form states that the project does not have cooling towers. However, not all credits are applicable to all
projects. A pilot alternative compliance path may be available for this credit to certain project types without cooling towers. For more information, please visit the Pilot Credit Library.
Any ideas of why the credit was denied when we documented according to requirements?
Best,
Christina
Izabela Kwiecinska
Gleeds Polska1 thumbs up
April 7, 2017 - 9:56 am
Hi Christina,
It's been a while since your comment. Do you have more clarification why the ACP was denied?
I am working on the same credit and don't know if it's worth to try...
Best,
Dan Ackerstein
PrincipalAckerstein Sustainability, LLC
LEEDuser Expert
819 thumbs up
July 10, 2018 - 1:10 pm
The building we are seeking to certify is a commercial office building in Hyderabad, India, which is a hub for India's growing tech industry. Completing an energy model of the type envisioned by the pilot credit has not been standard practice in India in the last 5 years; as such, the subject building does not have an energy model upon which to rely to document the nature of a 'baseline system'. The building does not have a cooling tower and does not receive cooling from a district cooling system. Our concern is that the mere absence of these two things will not be sufficient to achieve the documentation requirements for the credit. Has anyone had experience with a situation of this sort?
David Eldridge
Energy Efficiency NinjaGrumman/Butkus Associates
68 thumbs up
July 11, 2018 - 4:35 pm
Dan, even without the energy model you could still evaluate the case against the baseline system designated for the building using ASHRAE 90.1-2010 Appendix G Table G3.1.1 includes a cooling tower (systems 7 & 8) - basically entering the table from building size, use, and fuel types to determine if "by the book" it would normally have a cooling tower, but your building chose a different method of heat rejection, whether air-cooled (debatable that this meets the intent to me, but anyway...), geothermal, etc. Feel free to drop me a line if you would like to discuss.
David Eldridge
Energy Efficiency NinjaGrumman/Butkus Associates
68 thumbs up
July 11, 2018 - 4:38 pm
It would be helpful to know the LEED registration project type, building area, system types and fuel types according to the 90.1 table to clear up the system mapping first, Christina, Izabela.