We have a 7,000 sq ft. LEED NC building which is now in the beginning phases of attempting LEED EBOM and Guiding Principles compliance (Federal Installation). The project submittals for the LEED NC certification included a 50 meter heated outdoor training pool. The pool equipment (pumps, motors, and solar heating) are separately metered but are housed within the 7,000 sq foot building. For the Energy and Atmosphere points (Prerequisite 2/EA Credit 1) associated with the pending LEED EB certification there are two questions:
1) If the team decides to submit the pool as part of the LEED EB project, is it allowable for them to enter the pool as a space type associated with the 7,000 sq ft building, even though the pool pumps, motors, and solar heating are separately metered? The Space Type definition for “Pool” in Portfolio Manager seems to indicate that only pools on the same energy-use meter as the primary facility should be entered into the building profile. But it seems to me one could add both the building and pool meters and then use the “meter information” feature to assign meters to the appropriate spaces.
2) If the team decides not to submit the pool as part of the LEED EB project, but still desires to enter the building in Portfolio Manager for ENERGY STAR Certification and Guiding Principles Compliance, could they choose to leave the pool out of the building profile since it’s separately metered, even though the pumps and motors are included in the building structures? Or, should they enter the pool?
Michael Opitz
Director of SustainabilityIconergy
60 thumbs up
November 26, 2012 - 6:50 pm
Hello Emilio, the first thing I'll say is that I suggest you focus first on your strategy for Portfolio Manager, because if it's acceptable there then it is virtually assured to be acceptable in EBOM.
With that said, I need to ask you a follow-up question in order to respond directly: what space type do you intend to use in PM as the primary space type of your building?
Ravi Bajaj
Education ManagerSan Diego Green Building Council
9 thumbs up
November 26, 2012 - 9:03 pm
I am working with Emilio on this project, and the problem we are running into is that there is a very high energy consumption (on the order of 1100 kbtu/sf), rendering us an extremely low Energy Performance Rating through Portfolio Manger (when we choose standard building types).
As the complex includes a pool, and the equipment is housed within the building, the total EUI for the building reflects the pool's energy consumption in addition to normal operating demand (currently pool sf is NOT included in our Portfolio Manager for the building).
That being said, to respond directly to your question, we have the option of choosing either Office, Classroom or Storage (warehouse) based on the sf breakdown. No single type is above 50% of sf, however including "ancillary support areas" in one of the above space types will bring us over the 50% threshold for "Primary Space Usage Type" (as recommended by EnergyStar).
If I may, I have two followup questions:
1. Are you familiar with the energy 'allowances' for a pool, and is there a possibility that if we chose Office for example, with an attached pool, this could raise our Energy Performance Rating?
2. If the option described in my question 1 is not the option we want, we have an energy model assuming the Pool Pump/Chlorine Production/Heating needs annually. Is it acceptable to subtract out these assumed Pool power loads from the building's annual consumption, in order to benchmark the standard space usage types alone?
Look forward to your response.
Thanks,
Ravi
Michael Opitz
Director of SustainabilityIconergy
60 thumbs up
December 17, 2012 - 7:49 pm
Emilio and Ravi:
I'm afraid I have no direct experience with a situation similar enough to yours. Because of all the nuances in your project, my best recommendation is that you submit an inquiry to ENERGY STAR customer service asking them the best way to proceed. There are just too many variables interacting together.
However, I can say that Ravi's option #2 is very unlikely to be accepted by ENERGY STAR or LEED. The reasons is that they both want to see actually metered energy usage; simulation results are disallowed. They might accept the sub-metered data for Ravi's purpose of deducting the pool loads, but unless someone else on this forum has had success doing this I still recommend you ask ENERGY STAR directly and get their formal response.
Good luck.
Ravi Bajaj
Education ManagerSan Diego Green Building Council
9 thumbs up
January 24, 2013 - 6:23 pm
While we are still waiting for an option to benchmark the pool complex's energy consumption, we did find an addenda for LEED EBOM, EAp2 that came out New Years Day.
Your EnergyStar boundary can differ from your LEED boundary in order to benchmark your space in certain cases, now acceptable to GBCI.
Emilio Rovira
Sustainability PlannerDoD US Marine Corps
February 8, 2013 - 2:18 pm
For those who are interested in the "blog" thread... We are still waiting for USGBC/GBCI to determine the eligibility of the project's prerequisite!
David Eldridge
Energy Efficiency NinjaGrumman/Butkus Associates
68 thumbs up
February 14, 2013 - 3:21 pm
Although you have some work ahead of you for EBOM, you could use the energy model to demonstrate compliance with Guiding Principles "Optimize Energy Performance" topic based on my past experience with GP.
Regarding the connection of the pool to the building, is it associated with the building or is the building only housing the equipment out of necessity?
What I'm getting at is that you didn't mention "rec center" in the options above -- office, classroom, and warehouse. You might have some argument to exclude it from benchmarking if it isn't connected to the purpose of the building and it can be deducted with submetering.