Hello everyone,
We have a LEED Group project including multiple buildings served by a central water-water heat pump system. The system only serves the LEED Group project buildings - not any other buildings outside the LEED boundary. We are modeling the buildings individually in Energyplus because we cannot meter the loads separately for each building under one model. We thought that we should prorate the heat pump system capacity to the buildings and model it separately for each building. However, after reading the LEED reference guide we were confused if this system should be recognized as DES? Any insight would be much appreciated. Thank you!
You rely on LEEDuser. Can we rely on you?
LEEDuser is supported by our premium members, not by advertisers.
Go premium for
Marcus Sheffer
LEED Fellow7group / Energy Opportunities
LEEDuser Expert
5907 thumbs up
June 23, 2021 - 9:50 am
Sounds like a DES to me.
Keith Robertson
PresidentSolterre Inc.
54 thumbs up
June 23, 2021 - 11:17 am
As far as I can tell, LEED refers to “Treatment of District or Campus Thermal Energy in LEED for Existing Buildings: Operations and Maintenance v1.1 10/18/2012”, for the definition of a District or Campus Energy System (DES). It states:
“A central thermal energy conversion plant and transmission and/or distribution system that provides thermal energy (heating via hot water or steam, and/or cooling via chilled water) to more than one building, and where some part of the system (whether the energy conversion, or the transmission and distribution) extends beyond the boundaries of the LEED project site.”
From what you have described if your buildings (and system) are entirely within the LEED boundary you do not meet the definition of a DES. If there is some interpretation required it would be best to get guidance from the USGBC / GBCI.
Marcus Sheffer
LEED Fellow7group / Energy Opportunities
LEEDuser Expert
5907 thumbs up
June 23, 2021 - 11:33 am
I think that definition may be a bit dated. Here is the one from the LEED v4 glossary.
district energy system (DES)
a central energy conversion plant and transmission and distribution system that provides thermal energy to a group of buildings (e.g., a central cooling plant on a university campus). It does not include central energy systems that provide only electricity.
https://www.usgbc.org/glossary#letterd