Our project is a manufacturing plant which is seeking certification under NC Core and Shell v2009. The building will have a high process load (could be 50%) but the equipment has not yet been selected. We’ve been told that this equipment will be significantly more efficient than other similar plants but we don’t have data on the new equipment or any existing facilities to validate the claim. The process is somewhat unique and there are very few existing facilities which are similar. I’m not sure how to approach the process loads in the energy model and meet the intent of the credit. If we use COMNET Appendix B process loads for a manufacturing (0.86 W/SF), our process loads will be low. If we calculate the process loads based on the electrical service, our process loads will be high (25 W/sf). The problem I am having is that I don’t know where in the middle it will fall or how to justify whatever point I choose. I don’t want it to appear that I am manipulating the process loads to get energy savings. Has anyone had a similar situation?
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Marcus Sheffer
LEED Fellow7group / Energy Opportunities
LEEDuser Expert
5907 thumbs up
March 15, 2016 - 8:59 pm
Ultimately you are required to model it as designed.
For a process like you describe you cannot simply pick a number to include in the model.
During the design process to get started you can use general values. For example you indicate that you know the process could be 50%. If that is based on other similar plants it would not be hard to simply enter some loads in the model so that the process is about 50%.
For a specialized process you can't use a rule of thumb. You have to figure out a way to model it so that it is accurately represented in the model.