Our project is a new 174,786 square foot refrigerated warehouse with interior offices. The office area will comprise approximately 8,800 square feet of the total building. The refrigerated portion of the building will be unoccupied and fully automated, maintained at -10 degrees Fahrenheit, and will include a receiving dock area maintained at +40 degrees Fahrenheit. For the baseline and actual energy performance calculations utilized for EAc1, we are proposing to calculate the office area and equipment of the building only, and exclude the refrigerated portion of the building. To clarify, the portion of the building under consideration includes the following elements: 1. Freezer Storage Area 2. Receiving Area (cold dock) a. Rail Access Vestibule b. Maintenance Room c. Storage Room d. Refrigerator Equipment Mezzanine e. Fire Pump/Sprinkler Room f. Electrical Room ASHRAE 90.1-2004 Section 2.3 states that the standard does not apply to "(c) equipment and portions of building systems that use energy primarily to provide for industrial, manufacturing, or commercial processes." The ASHRAE 90.1-2004 User\'s manual reinforces the point "for example, the Standard does not apply to refrigerated warehouses that are cooled to maintain the quality of the goods stored in the warehouse." We wish to clarify that for a refrigerated warehouse, the baseline and actual energy calculations for prerequisite EAp2 and credit EAc1 will be based on the office portion of the building only. All energy used for refrigeration in the previously described areas will be excluded from the calculations nor contribute to the required 25% process load. Note however, the envelope portion of the refrigerated warehouse will remain in full compliance with ASHRAE 90.1-2004 section 5. Please confirm that this approach is correct.
The applicant is requesting a waiver from including the refrigerated warehouse from EAp2 and EAc1 calculations. ASHRAE 90.1-2004 does not apply to refrigerated warehouses. This means that there are no minimum efficiency requirements prescribed in ASHRAE 90.1-2004 for these spaces. However, this does not mean that it can be excluded from EAp2 and EAc1 calculations. As per the LEED-NC v2.2 Reference Guide, ALL energy end-uses must be included in the EAc1 calculations. Since the refrigerated warehouse portion of the project is not regulated under ASHRAE 90.1-2004, the applicant must maintain this portion as energy neutral i.e. keep the modeling inputs for that portion identical in both the proposed and baseline models. Applicable Internationally.