LEED EBOM performance period for EA credits.

Hi Adam,

Are you wondering about the performance period timing for the ASHRAE Level 1 Audit (EAp1) or the Energy Star benchmarking (EAp2/EAc1), or both?

Either way, you have some options. For EAp2/EAc1 the normal strategy is to benchmark based on 12 months of consecutive utility data, with the end date of that period meeting the standard performance period timing rules:

a) within a shared 30-day window when performance periods for all prereqs/credits must end, and;
b) the end of that 30-day window landing no more than 60 days prior to the date of submission

If you have an official Energy Star label, meaning that you've had a PE evaluate your benchmarking, sent an application to Energy Star, etc. you can take the streamlined approach for documentation EAp2/EAc1 by simply using the score associated with that label, as long as the label was issued within 1 year of the application date.

For EAp1, the audit generally has to be performed within 2 years of the performance period end date for that prereq (which would need to meet the general rules for performance period timing from above). If you have an older ASHRAE audit you want to use, see the Reference Guide to determine if the exception to this guideline applies to you. The timing of the ASHRAE audit doesn't really need to correlate to the Energy Star benchmarking period in any specific way beyond the standard performance period timing rules.

Anyway, if you have your other ducks in a row and an official Energy Star label, you can use that score of 85 as long as you submit your LEED application before the year is up.

Hmm, you could shoot for March 2011 and have until then to use your official label. But, if you're going through the trouble of energy audits/Cx, you'll probably start saving energy and therefore start seeing improvements in your Energy Star score, so you may no longer want to use the official label/associated score.

I feel like I'm hashing the point here...but I'd like to clarify the timing between the two performance period lengths (12 months and 3 months). Assuming they all have to end within 30 days of each other then would this scenario make sense as an example:

Start the EA performance period in January and start all other performance periods in October and finish everything at the end of December.

So essentially start the EA 9 months before everything else so they can finish together? Or am I making this too complicated?