My customer will build a new K-12 school building using LEED V4. We are in the planning stages and they have expressed interest in monitoring-based Cx. However, they are under the impression it will add roughly $200,000 to the construction budget (that works out to almost $2 per square foot). That concerns them; so they have asked me to find out what is really required to accomplish this. I have researched the LEED V4 BD+C Reference Guide, ASHRAE 0, ASHRAE 1, LEED User, and various reports, presentations, white papers on the subject... I have yet to find my answers. Perhaps the template on the new LEED-On-Line V4 answers my questions, but I have not been given a link yet to see this credit (so I don't know).
Please don't mis-judge me, I actually like monitoring-based Cx, and think it is a great benefit for a building owner and believe it will likely save as much or more energy long term than just about any other ECM out there (in fact, I would lobby it’s worth more than 1 pt) - but I have to think like the owner and CM here because they will make the decision.....so here goes.....
Metering? - It is not clear that we have to add any meters beyond the main electrical service meter, main gas service meter and main domestic water service meter - all of which normally come from the utility company (yes?/no?)
Systems? - I would say it seems obvious that we will have to cover lighting, chiller, boiler, domestic water; but is it necessary that we cover fans? pumps? the electric terminal heaters at entry vestibules? etc.... In other words, is not entirely clear "how far down we have to drill" (?)
Electricity KW vs Kwh? - There is a separate credit for participating in demand control programs offered by the local utility, thus, I am assuming electricity in monitoring-based Cx can be captured in Kwh only - i.e., monitoring usage, not demand (yes?)
Frequency? - It does not seem to be made clear whether monitoring must be done on any particular increment - every 15 minutes? every hour? once per day? - What is the required frequency? Are different trends expected to be monitored at different frequencies (example: lighting every hour, but boiler every 15 minutes)?
My feeling is that teams will be “very torqued” if they invest a lot of thought, time, programming, cost for sensors, costs for meters, etc - then submit to GBCI only to get a bunch of comments back from the reviewer inferring that their MBCx isn't enough. Might it be possible to have the reviewer do a pre-review of just the MBCx plan first?
Thank you
Scott Bowman
LEED FellowIntegrated Design + Energy Advisors, LLC
LEEDuser Expert
519 thumbs up
January 16, 2017 - 12:40 pm
Long question...long answer (which I am known for).
You are not going to find the kind of concrete answers that you are seeking. This is a new option under v4 and therefore will need some time to fully understand what they may or may not accept. The concept is very good and while there is additional cost, I see no way it will be $2/sf!
Before I get too deep, one point should be discussed. If the owner pursues this option, they should have someone on staff who has a direct responsibility to monitor and improve energy performance or hire a third party to do so. That is the only way you would get the value out of this action to justify the investment. If this is not feasible or possible, I would strongly recommend putting project budget into other efficiency opportunities.
Based on many discussions with various people at USGBC, the goal of this options was to provide a design alternative to Measurement and Verification. This was a very seldom used, but extremely effective, credit under v2009. The concept is to create a system of evaluation and analysis that allows an owner to know when a building drifts outside its performance goals...before it costs too much money! Under v4 it has been revised and spread out a little too, so there are more than 1 points available. You have to consider EAc1 option WITH EAc3 Advanced Energy Metering and WEc4 Water Metering. There are really 3 points possible.
So, I would use the two metering credits to evaluate the cost for adding meters to the project, and how many are required. There is super value in metering IF someone monitors them AND acts on the results.
Then you would have cost to program trends and in my opinion, creating an as constructed energy model that can be used to identify trends that may be outside the energy use goals of the project. I do not think it has to be a model that uses real weather data (although that is a great way to do it). Having even a well done as-constructed, as-used model will give operators great trends to compare to.
You would then construct a plan that on at least a quarterly basis looks at historical operations against the ideal and plan interventions or actions. When used well this kind of monitoring can lead to additional savings and performance. Also, alarms should be designed into the monitoring for key aspects that are identified during commissioning and notifying operators that there may be an immediate need. If the normal design was for lighting to be on for a given schedule, but exceeds that schedule by a certain %, flag the operators. There may be more school events that week, or a control has been changed or manually turned on.
The last part of your question deserves some attention too. For sure I would create the outline of a plan that you feel brings value to the client and meets your understanding of the general requirements and intent. That is key, you must believe there is value in the scope you are proposing. Then ask for a conference call to discuss that plan and get any feedback the reviewing team may have. Always approach reviews with the attitude of "this is what we are planning and feel meets the criteria, what do you think?" You will get useful feedback that way.
Now my lecture...LEED is a measure of the sustainability of the project, it brings no value in itself. I never talk about the cost of a point. I talk about the value of the action and how it can help increase performance THEN mention that there are points that reward that. Good luck and please feel free to contact me directly at scottb@ideabuildworks.com if you have more questions.