It is acceptable for attached townhomes in California to use the code compliance energy model to demonstrate average performance for LEED certification on the following two conditions: 1) all of the units must be designed to perform similarly. Specifically, the variation in energy performance among all units should not exceed 5%. This determination can be made based on the expertise and judgment of the energy modeler, but this approach should not be used if some units are constructed with additional energy upgrades (e.g. PV, solar DHW, improved HVAC) unless those upgrades are left out of the model. 2) the building must be modeled using results from performance tests for each individual unit, or the worst-case results from among the performance tests of all of the units. If a project does not meet this criteria, the units must be modeled separately for LEED certification.
Updated 11/29/17 for rating system version applicability.