My building is aiming to be LEED EBOM Silver and received a preliminary audit from PG&E in 2011 which resulted in a score of 80 in Energy Star Portfolio (or 9 LEED points). My building now wants to undergo some energy retrofits by August 2014 to achieve a score of 85 (13 points).
The performance period requires 12 months of tracking, but we want our performance period to end by November 30, 2014. So we were expecting to use 9 months of old data (Nov 2013 – July 2014) and 4 months of new data (Aug 2014 – Nov 2014).
My question is, will the energy efficiency from the new retrofits beginning Aug 2014 be reflected in our Energy Star Portfolio and thus LEED score? Will this be “prorated” on a monthly basis or somehow incorporated? Or will our EAc1 score be a maximum of 9 LEED points only, unless if we change the performance period?
Julia Weatherby
PresidentWeatherby Design & Co. Engineers
94 thumbs up
July 11, 2014 - 5:39 pm
Wendy-
Your EAc1 score will be based on the twelve months or more of data reported to Energy Star Portfolio Manger during the performance period. Assuming a step improvement in energy efficiency in Aug. 2014, your score would be a weighted blend of the 8 months with the new 4 months of data.
Theoretically, the longer you can wait to submit (up to at least 12 months) after the energy retrofit is in place, the better your score will be.
Wendy Lao
LEED Sustainability InternCounty of Santa Clara
19 thumbs up
July 11, 2014 - 7:07 pm
Thank you Julia. We wish we could delay the submission to reflect the energy savings, but unfortunately LEED requires all credits to have the performance period end within the same 30 day period, and so we must complete our project by Nov. 31. (Or am I mistaken?) Again, thank you.
Julia Weatherby
PresidentWeatherby Design & Co. Engineers
94 thumbs up
July 14, 2014 - 8:41 am
Yes, you are correct that the end of each performance periods needs to be coordinated to fall within a 30-day period. So if there are other credits where it will not work to lengthen the performance period, then the energy data 1-year period can't be rolled forward either.