LEED NC 2009 EAc5 Measurement and Verification

For LEED projects you are following Option D, Calibrated Simulation. In simple terms you measure the data you will need to enable you to calibrate the energy model with the actual energy use. You are gathering data for each of the significant energy end uses (lighting, heating, cooling, fans, plug loads, etc.) since you cannot calibrate a model based on a comparison of annual fuel use alone. This could involve energy meters for some or all of the end uses. Putting an energy meter on every end use can become costly so quite often monitoring points are used to gather data (like run time for a fan motor) and then energy use is derived instead of directly measured. Sometimes energy use for some end uses can be derived by subtraction (for example in a packaged roof top unit you can meter the whole unit, measure fan run time, derive the fan energy use and subtract it to determine cooling energy use). Sometimes energy use can be derived by taking spot measurements or with short term trending devices and using that data to derive energy use. Our goal on every M&V job is to figure out the least expensive way to gather the data we need on each project. Quite often the way we gather data will vary significantly from project to project. I do not think that you will find what you are seeking in a reference. The documents you read outline the principles to follow - you then have to apply them.

Marcus, Appreciate your easy to understand explanation of M&V. If you have a BAS, are there still times you need meters ?? The project is a hotel convention center with retail & commercial office space. Ownership has a very sophisticated facility engineer group at each complex, but has never pursued this credit or used the BAS to compare actual to the energy model. Thanks !!

It depends on the points you program into the BAS. If the BAS can gather all the data you need then there is no need for separate meters. Most of our M&V projects are small to medium commercial. They typically have some meters and we gather some data with the BAS. It also depends on the BAS capabilities as well.