Industrial buildings: EAc1 Optimize Energy Performance

Jane Long

LEEDuser Basic Member

31 thumbs up

April 5, 2011

Hi, I’m working on a pre-assessment for a large manufacturing (aircraft) plant. While a number of ‘reduction’ strategies are being considered, they do not represent a significant saving; prelim ASHRAE models show that the Prerequisite requirement of 20% is only just achieved. The very large energy demands are intrinsic to the buildings function, and while the machinery is bespoke and uses significantly less energy than the older machinery, it appears impossible for this development to score well (or at all) under this credit. Does any one have any experience of this issue? Am I correct in believing that project of this type inherently cannot achieve these credits? Thanks & regards, Kit

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Marcus Sheffer

LEED Fellow

7group / Energy Opportunities

LEEDuser Expert

4454 thumbs up

Tue, 04/05/2011 - 14:13

It is certainly more difficult for high process energy facilities to score well, you are correct. If you can establish a reasonable baseline of "standard industry practice for a new facility of this type" then you may be able to claim savings related to the machinery following the exceptional calculation method. To meet the prerequisite the savings only need to be 10% for new construction and 5% for renovations.

Jane Long

LEEDuser Basic Member

31 thumbs up

Tue, 04/05/2011 - 16:08

Thank you for the advice (& the correction- typing without think!)

Christopher Schaffner

CEO & Founder

The Green Engineer

LEEDuser Expert

630 thumbs up

Wed, 04/06/2011 - 18:55

In my experience, assuming you can meet the Minimum Project Requirements, there is no such thing as a building type that is "impossible" to certify. If you can make a good argument for process load savings in an exceptional calculation measure you can often show a significant energy savings and score many points under EAc1. You may need to dive into the details of the process a bit, but you should be able to take credit for simple things (like premium efficiency motors) as well as complex things (like changes to the entire process). We've seen everything from data centers, to food packaging facilities, to precious metals smelting operations (really!) go for LEED Certification.

Jane Long

LEEDuser Basic Member

31 thumbs up

Fri, 09/09/2011 - 15:42

Thank Chris!