GIB Prereq 2 - ENERGY STAR "equivalent criteria"

Eric Orozco

Urban Designer, LEED AP ND

Neighboring Concepts, PLLC

LEEDuser Basic Member

26 thumbs up

August 15, 2012

LEED-ND forum, I am searching for a clarification on which specific ENERGY STAR program(s) the "equivalent criteria" statement applies to in GIB prereq 2. As you know, New Homes v.2 has phased out, so can the term "equivalent criteria" still apply to New Homes v. 2 criteria or must it now necessarily apply to New Homes v. 3 only? Can a Builder Option Package still be used to satisfy the criteria? Is the "equivalent criteria" hinged on the building's actual start of construction or what applied to the ENERGY STAR New Homes Program in 2009? Thanks for any guidance!

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Meghan Bogaerts

Manager, Neighborhood Development

U.S. Green Building Council

LEEDuser Premium Member

41 thumbs up

Wed, 08/22/2012 - 20:45

Hi Eric, In general, the best way to explain LEED-ND's policies on this kind of thing is to say that we follow the LEED for Homes program (to keep consistency for those teams using both rating systems). So, the analogous Homes rating system, version 2008, does currently allow project teams to use ENERGY STAR version 2 as an "or equivalent" to version 3. Therefore, it's acceptable for an ND project to do the same. However, I'd encourage you to follow version 3 if you can. Our policies tend to evolve with the market (and as codes are updated), and so may change. Also, if your project is Stage 1 or Stage 2, what you're doing is committing to follow ENERGY STAR when the buildings are built. If that point is more than a year or two in the future, version 3 will be more commonly used in the market anyway. Best, Meghan

Eric Orozco

Urban Designer, LEED AP ND

Neighboring Concepts, PLLC

LEEDuser Basic Member

26 thumbs up

Wed, 08/29/2012 - 23:24

Thanks Meghan! Ok. I have a circular predicament for you concerning a building's energy requirements in my project to meet GIBp2. Perhaps you can shed some light. My largest building is a 4-story multifamily project, which is over 100,000 square feet. According to GIBp2 it then must demonstrate the 10% efficiency improvement via the equivalent modeling methodology of the LEED rating system appropriate to the building, which in this case is the LEED-H Multi-family Mid-rise system. These simulation guidelines must follow the methodology of the EPA's ENERGY STAR Multifamily High-Rise Program Simulation Guidelines. That's all fine and good. However, we also have to qualify for ENERGY STAR for other reasons, and to do so, we need to qualify the building through the New Homes version 3.0 program (not the Multifamily High Rise program!) because, while the building is over three stories, it is actually ineligible for this program because it has units with independent systems (no central heating, cooling, hot water systems). So...in order to pursue both, we will have to pull double duty, pursuing in effect, two energy modeling programs, one effort for the whole building simulation and one for each unit. This will add incredible expense to the project. Is there a way we can perhaps reconcile the two, "kill two birds with one stone" in effect? Any chance we can use meeting ENERGY STAR via New Homes version 3 qualification of each unit to meet the prerequisite, even if the building is 3+ stories and over 100,000 sq. ft.?