Hi Marcus, it seems that this is a real issue in this forum and I ended up more confused.

Help me get this thing right

First, lets clarify some basic concepts:

According to the Energy Star Multifamily High Rise Program Simulation Guidelines, section 3.6, GENERAL LIGHTING energy savings may be claimed as long as the proposed design complies with lighting requirements. Then, section 3.6.2 IN-UNIT LIGHTING states that if hardwired lighting is specified, the actual LPD must be modeled and does not specify if they must meet illumination requirements. However, while filling the Energy Star Calculator, it comes to my attention that there is a column for illumination levels, but doesn't interferes with the Proposed LPD output the calculator gives me to input into my model.

This makes me think two things.

1.- Is General Lighting all the luminaries fixtures installed outside the dwelling units, and only these have to meet lighting requirements in order to claim savings?

2.- Is In-unit lighting all the luminaries fixtures installed inside the dwelling units, and as long as they are hardwired, you can claim savings and model the actual proposed LPD even though they might not comply with illumination requirements in some rooms?

This is very important for a project we are about to submit to review, since all this time we thought that we would not be able to claim energy savings for in-unit lighting, and we were claiming savings for outside lighting. Our approach was to use Building Area Method for the whole building in both models (0.70 w/sf) and Exterior according to ASHRAE Table 9.4.5 Tradable Exterior Lighting. Thanks in advance!