we have just completed our transport survey and seem to have a lot of fuel-efficient vehicles, but most don't appear on the ACEEE list - simply because we tend to have models different from those sold in the US.
we have been contemplating approaching the vehicle manufacturers to provide us with equivalency scores for Green Score for vehicles sold here (South Africa), but this may not be the correct approach given that this may contain bias/not follow the prescribed methodology.
we really would like to explore this, especially since there are easily an additional two or three points at stake for our project, if we cannot prove/document fuel-efficient vehicles and would be very grateful for guidance!
many thanks!
Dan Ackerstein
PrincipalAckerstein Sustainability, LLC
LEEDuser Expert
819 thumbs up
April 7, 2011 - 5:29 pm
Interesting question! I think the approach you are contemplating is probably the best route. Although you are correct in noting that the findings may slightly off the mark, I would think that most manufacturers would have publicly available (and reasonably reliable) information on fuel economy and curb weight, if not tailpipe emissions. My suggestion from a LEED standpoint would be to carefully quantify the portion of your overall transportation performance that is associated with vehicles of uncertain documentation so that, if push comes to shove, you can back those out of the figures for compliant commutes. That being said, it has been my experience that the USGBC/GBCI recognizes the inherent limitations of many of the tools it employs from the perspective of projects outside the US, and is quite receptive to those projects sincere and thoughtful efforts to achieve the best documentation standards they can achieve.
Hope that helps,
Dan