Criteria for third-party economic audit?

Philip Herriges

PM/PA

Neumann/Smith Architecture

LEEDuser Premium Member

98 thumbs up

August 5, 2010

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Tristan Roberts

Representative

Vermont House of Representatives

LEEDuser Expert

7780 thumbs up

Fri, 08/20/2010 - 05:40

Kathy, I've asked around and haven't gotten a response.I don't think there are any official guidelines on this, or enough precedent to track a clear course. I thin you simply have to show that you've done a defensible job. The credentials of CPA would certainly help. Seems reasonable to include ductwork and other systems that would be affected by a retrofit.

Philip Herriges

PM/PA

Neumann/Smith Architecture

LEEDuser Premium Member

98 thumbs up

Mon, 08/23/2010 - 21:54

Tristan: Our Owner will be going about obtaining a 3rd part economic audit, however, they have already planned to replace the existing units by 2020 (it is planned for in their long-term capital plan). You have commented above that there is a 10-year consideration in that if it is determined to have a longer payback than 10 years that there is then an exemption to having to replace/retrofit the units but that the calculations/audit will need to be included in our credit submission. Does the fact that our units will be replaced by 2020 (less than 10 years from the time that we'll submit) complicate our situation? Should we even aknowledge this fact in our narrative?

Tristan Roberts

Representative

Vermont House of Representatives

LEEDuser Expert

7780 thumbs up

Mon, 08/30/2010 - 00:47

Seems like a Catch-22. If they will be updating the systems within 10 years one would think they consider it economically justifiable. Given that, do you think you can get an audit that supports the exemption?Not mentioning the capital plan is certainly an option, although I couldn't comment on its advisability.

Philip Herriges

PM/PA

Neumann/Smith Architecture

LEEDuser Premium Member

98 thumbs up

Mon, 08/30/2010 - 20:03

The problem is that they don't have the financing now and it's not on their horizon until 2020. They concede it needs to be done, but that it just inside the 10-year criteria for their capital plan. It waits to be seen whether the audit will support this notion, but considering the extent to which the unit serves other tenant spaces, I suspect that it would show a payback well beyond 10-years.

Shillpa Singh

Senior Sustainability Manager

YR&G

LEEDuser Basic Member

96 thumbs up

Mon, 08/30/2010 - 22:44

From our understanding, the economic feasibility study is a recommendation but not a credit requirement. The base building systems are called out for best practice to undertake an audit. As stated above, they are not subject to the credit requirements if the project chooses to not discuss them.