District Energy and LEED Boundary

Mitch Gascoyne

Sustainability Consultant

MCW Consultants Ltd

LEEDuser Basic Member

8 thumbs up

December 30, 2013

I have a LEED 2009 project where all buildings are pursuing LEED certification and are served by the same plant (for heating and cooling). All buildings served by the plant are included in the LEED scope. The district guide states: "The central plant is defined as a DES only if it currently serves or is expected to serve other buildings not within the LEED project boundaries for the project." Does this mean the district energy guide does not apply to my project? If so how do I address the reference buildings?

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Marcus Sheffer

LEED Fellow

7group / Energy Opportunities

LEEDuser Expert

4454 thumbs up

Mon, 12/30/2013 - 22:56

Have you checked the campus application guide? Here is the link - http://www.usgbc.org/sites/default/files/Docs10486.pdf It references Appendix A which provides modeling guidelines for your situation -http://www.usgbc.org/Docs/Archive/General/Docs10484.pdf Not sure why the link above is cut off. The last two letters are df - so copy and paste to get to that link.

Mitch Gascoyne

Sustainability Consultant

MCW Consultants Ltd

LEEDuser Basic Member

8 thumbs up

Tue, 12/31/2013 - 15:51

Yes, I discovered this guide shortly after posting. I had looked at the District Energy Guide, Advanced Energy Modeling Guide for LEED as well as the Reference Guide of course. You only have to go through 4 different manuals to find the answer...simple.

Marcus Sheffer

LEED Fellow

7group / Energy Opportunities

LEEDuser Expert

4454 thumbs up

Tue, 12/31/2013 - 16:14

For v4 most of this will be consolidated into the Reference Guide subscription if you choose to go that route. Hopefully getting simpler.