We have an 180,000 sf dormitory and trying to get an ENERGY STAR rating through Portfolio Manager. We have run into some issues with our facility because the dorm consists of 4 dormitory housing buildings (over 40,000sf) and 2 small office and study buildings under 5,000sf. They are all under the same management, same meter and operate as one facility.
In order to get an ENERGY STAR rating, we have to separately rate each building. Because the 2 small office and study buildings are under 5,000sf, we can't get a rating for them.
Is there a way to get a rating for the whole dormitory facility or will LEED allow us to exclude the two small spaces because they are under 5,000 sqft?
Michael Opitz
Director of SustainabilityIconergy
60 thumbs up
June 8, 2011 - 12:57 pm
John:
This issue can get real tricky real quick, so I'm not surprised it's come up. Before we get too far into the weeds here's a general rule of thumb: if you can find a solution using existing, published guidance then you should try that, as it will minimize your risk of delaying the LEED review.
This rule may sound obvious, but what makes it complicated for your topic is that several pieces of guidance out there might offer ideas or pieces of a solution but they're in different places:
1) ENERGY STAR's rules about how to treat multiple buildings
2) USGBC's rules on multiple buildings, as described here:
http://www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CMSPageID=2326
3) USGBC's rules related to the MPRs, which define which projects are a good fit for LEED itself:
http://www.usgbc.org/DisplayPage.aspx?CMSPageID=2102
So I'd suggest skimming each of these resources and seeing if any pre-approved solution jumps out at you. If it doesn't, then check in here again and we can take a deeper dive.