District Energy Systems

Project location: United States

August 10, 2017

Bob Crowell

Vice President / Principal
2rw Consultants, Inc.

LEEDuser Basic Member

1 thumbs up

Project location: United States

August 10, 2017

Marcus or anyone who knows the answer,

I have a squash facility that is being added on to an existing building.
The LEED Boundary does not include the plant.

1) The existing plant serves only one building so can I still treat this as a district energy system because the DES Guidance LEED v2 and 2009 states that a DES is a "central thermal energy conversion plant...that provides thermal energy to MORE THAN ONE building..."

2) If so, is there a DES Guidance for V4 or should I stick with the current DES Guidance.

Thanks a bunch!

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Marcus Sheffer

LEED Fellow
7group / Energy Opportunities

LEEDuser Expert

5909 thumbs up

August 10, 2017 - 2:16 pm

An addition to an existing building is usually still only one building. Sounds like only one building so it is not a DES.

The DES guidance for v4 is now included within the LEED Reference Guide. There have been some significant changes.

Bob Crowell

Vice President / Principal
2rw Consultants, Inc.

LEEDuser Basic Member

1 thumbs up

August 10, 2017 - 2:19 pm

Thanks Marcus!
How should I model the plant if it is not included within the boundary?
Model it the same in the Baseline and the Proposed?
Is there a way to take credit for the plant without moving the boundary?

Marcus Sheffer

LEED Fellow
7group / Energy Opportunities

LEEDuser Expert

5909 thumbs up

August 10, 2017 - 2:33 pm

We submitted a CIR many years ago on this subject for a building addition. I think the same approach would apply. We just apportioned a portion of the load from the central plant to the addition demonstrating that the plant had sufficient excess capacity. The baseline would still be Appendix G. let me know if you have trouble finding the old CIR and I can try to dig it out.